One Night Only
by comealongpond
Summary: Flynn Rider meets a girl named Rapunzel in a bar.  He only plans on spending one night with her, but things get complicated when she starts to develop feelings for him.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so this story… I don't really know where I got the idea, but I kind of it. Just because I think Flynn is totally the type of guy who has a lot of one night stands. Let me explain a few things. This still takes place in the time period that Tangled does, but it's kind of AU. Rapunzel escaped the tower on her own; none of the stuff in the movie ever happened. And now she's just chilling in town or something. That's it.**

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><p>Flynn Rider was spending his evening as he usually did: alone, in a bar, looking for girls. Not any girl in particular, really, just one that looked willing to get into bed with him. He wasn't very picky. As long as she wasn't hideous, she would probably work. He had a few preferences, sure – and that's why he liked evenings like this. This place had lots of girls in it tonight. He could take his pick.<p>

He sipped on his beer as he looked around, seeing what his choices were. Some of these girls were hotter than others. Some looked really slutty (not that he _minded _that or anything) and some were actually really pretty. Some already seemed to have men with him, so he ruled those out because he wasn't into sharing, unless it was himself being shared between two or more girls. Soon enough he saw someone sitting at a table in the corner, and she made him forget about everyone else for a minute.

She was tiny – he almost wouldn't have noticed her at little if he hadn't be specifically looking – looking around the rest of the bar with huge, green eyes. She looked a little out of place as she watched everyone, taking a sip of her drink every once in a while. Her brown hair was cut very short, a pixie cut that was a little uneven around the bottom, but it looked very cute on her.

Flynn pretty stopped looking at every other girl in the place, just focusing on her. She was, well…she was _amazingly _attractive. She was small and sexy and innocent-looking and best of all she was a _brunette_. That was it. She was the one he wanted. She was the one who would keep him company tonight. There was no doubt in his mind of this, because he had never had a girl turn him down before. Well except that one time, but that didn't count.

He stood up and confidently made his way over to her table, the alcohol in his system probably helping with that. She noticed as he got nearer, her eyes following him. And her _eyes _– god, her eyes were gorgeous. She was definitely the best looking girl Flynn had found in a bar in a _long time_.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said, giving her a smile as he stood next to her. "How are you this evening?" He had a fair bit of experience in dealing with girls. It didn't take much for him to get them into the palm of his hand.

Her eyes were still fixed on him, in surprise and shock. Someone was talking to her again. She wasn't so sure if she liked this. She had been here a few days, staying in the inn that was part of this bar, and everyone who had tried to talk to her had been strangely flirtatious men. This guy did look much more attractive than the others, however, and closer to her age. Still, she wasn't that great with talking to people. Before a few weeks ago, she had never talked to anyone but her mother. "I'm…I'm alright," she said. "And you?"

"I'm pretty great," Flynn said. "Look, you seem kind of lonely over here all by yourself. You want some company, babe?"

"Um…" She gave him a soft smile. "Company would be good, I guess." To be honest, she was pretty bored. She didn't know what there was to do around here, so most nights she would just come down to the bar and watch everyone. The past couple nights she had given drinking a try. She didn't much like the taste, but the results were…interesting. She had only had about one drink by this point, so she was mainly in her right mind.

Flynn smiled and sat in the seat next to her. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Flynn Rider." He gave her another smile, his best one yet. "You've probably heard of me."

"Flynn Rider…?" It sounded familiar to her. "Oh, the guy from the wanted posters?" she said suddenly. She remembered seeing them posted around the streets. "You look different in person. Your nose is different."

He felt the urge to roll his eyes. Of course. But he didn't let that show, and continued to smirk at her. "I'm also much more dashing than they give me credit for. You know, most people don't know this about me, but…" He leaned in closer to her, half-whispering into her ear, "I've got a thing for brunettes."

She squeaked, blushing a bit. Good thing she was a brunette, because she hadn't been a few weeks ago. She used to be blonde until she escaped from home and cut her hair, turning it brown.

He grinned, pulling away from her. "You know, you look very beautiful?"

"T-thank you," she said. Maybe it was that stupid drink that was making her stomach all fluttery, but she really liked this Flynn guy. He was good looking and he was being very nice to her. She had always been scared of people before she escaped, but maybe they weren't bad. "You too," she muttered, glancing at him before looking down and turning red.

"Well thank you," he said. He looked around, as if to make sure no one was listening, and then said a little quietly, "Hey, you wanna get out of here? It's kind of crowded and I really think we could get to know each other better if we were alone."

"Sure," she said quickly. It sounded like a fine idea to her. "I have a room here. If you wanna use that."

Perfect. Much easier than getting his own room – or stealing someone else's. "That sounds great. Do you want to lead the way?"

"Of course," she said, standing up quickly and stumbling a bit. She was nervous. She'd never had a man in her room before, ever. "Just follow me." She went to the back of the bar, climbed a set of stairs and led him down a hallway before opening the door to her room.

She closed the door once they got inside, and Flynn quickly went over to lock it. She ignored this. "So…how are you?"

Flynn couldn't help but find her whole innocent act amusing. With how easily he had gotten her to take him up here, he was sure she knew exactly what she was doing. Her cuteness would probably only last for so long. He was sure she could get crazy in bed. His trousers tightened just thinking about it.

He grinned, gently taking one of her hands. "You know, I never got your name," he whispered, nibbling on her neck. It was always polite to ask them their names, even if he didn't actually care about it.

"It's Rapunzel," she muttered, her heart pounding in her chest due to the way his mouth was working on her. She had never had anyone kiss her before, so when he moved his mouth to give her a full kiss on the lips she wasn't at all prepared for it. But she was a quick learner, moving her lips against his. She knew how to do this, having spent several nights in the bar watching many couples embrace in public. He pulled away after just a few seconds.

"Rapunzel," he repeated. "Well Rapunzel. I think you'll enjoy this." He leaned in and kissed her again, leaving a fluttering sensation in her stomach. She couldn't believe he liked her so much that they were actually kissing already! She didn't even know him. But then again, he had probably been drinking, and drunken couples were always very keen on kissing. But she had to admit she saw the fun in it now. Maybe she should have tried this before!

"Well, I'm enjoying it so far," Rapunzel said, smiling a little.

He pulled away. "You know, you look pretty young. How old are you?"

"Eighteen," she said, a little nervously.

He looked at her and smiled. Not too bad. He'd been with younger, though not by much. "Twenty-six," he replied.

She gave a little nod at this. He simply grinned at her as he fumbled with his belt and kicked his shoes off. Rapunzel wasn't quite sure where he was going with this, but he seemed to be trying to get undressed. She froze up a little and just stared at him.

"Don't worry, I have protection," Flynn said upon noticing her stare. He pulled something small out of his pocket and kind of held it up to her, but she had no idea what is was. Then he went back to what he was doing. "Why don't you get your clothes off, baby? I'm sure you look even more wonderful without them," he said, glancing up at her with a smile that was kind of infectious.

She blushed. So that's what we wanted? She couldn't say she was surprised, but she wasn't sure if she should agree to it… "Oh, um, okay," she muttered, tugging on her dress a little but stopping when she saw he had his pants down.

"You okay?" he asked. He was used to girls looking at him when he undressed (he was pretty happy with the way he looked, needless to say), but she was different than the others.

"Yeah, I just…I never…" she muttered, looking down at his underwear, or more specifically the strange bulge in it.

Flynn stopped what he was doing, kicking his pants off from his feet, and stood up straighter, looking at her. "Never what? Shit. You're not…you're not a virgin, are you?"

Rapunzel nodded and looked rather embarrassed. "Um, possibly?"

"Shit," Flynn said again. He hadn't been expecting that. He assumed she was pretty experienced, judging from the way she was acting before. Not to mention she was at a _bar _– he was used to only sluts hanging out in bars. "I, um…well that's fine I guess." He wasn't really sure what to do. He hadn't been with a virgin in a _long _time (the girls he had been with lately were like the opposite of that). He wasn't sure he wanted one. But this Rapunzel chick was hot as hell and he still wanted to bang her either way.

Rapunzel smiled at him shyly. "Alright," she said.

"Yeah, so…just take your clothes off and I can show you where to go from there." He would rather just get right to it, but knew he would have to take it slow for her. He smirked as he watched her began to take off her dress, revealing lots of beautiful skin underneath. No matter if she was a virgin or not, this was going to be worth it.

She stood there in her undergarments, simply looking at him. Eventually his eyes landed back on her face. He stammered slightly before talking again. This girl was _really_ hot. "So, so you're sure about this?" he asked.

Rapunzel thought for a few seconds. Was she sure? She didn't exactly know what she was doing, but she liked this Flynn guy, and if he wanted to do this then she had no problem with going along. "I'm sure," she said quietly, giving him a small smile and a nod.

Flynn grinned. "So how about taking everything off?" he asked. He was usually too lazy to take off a girl's clothes for her, even though some of them were into that. He watched her as she undressed the rest of the way, very pleased with what he saw. After she was done he came back to his senses. "So, you can lie on the bed, I guess? And I could take over?" He was used to girls giving back to him equally, so it was strange that he would have to do everything tonight. _Virgins are too much work_, he thought bitterly.

Rapunzel lay down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, her heart beating very fast. She had never had anyone see her while she was this exposed. Maybe she should have got to know Flynn a little more first… But apparently in the real world you didn't have to get to know someone before getting intimate, so she guessed this was alright.

Flynn positioned himself over her and began kissing her again. It was strange, kissing, but Rapunzel was really starting to get the hang of it. She hoped she was doing alright. She was, because Flynn couldn't even tell that she had never kissed anyone before.

Flynn wasn't into foreplay unless he was in the mood, which wasn't right now. Usually if he went too long with someone without actual intercourse they'd actually think he liked them, and that was never a good thing. Although Rapunzel…he liked her a bit more than most girls he did this kind of thing with. Not because of her looks – she just seemed like a nicer person. He didn't want to waste time being all romantic on her, but he figured he might as well be nice since it was her first time.

He kissed her a while before exploring her body a little. It was intended to calm her down, but the more places he touched her, the quicker her heartbeat would get.

"You alright, hun?" he asked, kissing her collarbone.

Rapunzel gave a shaky nod. "Yes, I'm…f-fine." She had never had anyone touch her in this way before. Flynn really must like her a lot if he was doing all this. She kind of liked what he was doing, even if she was nervous.

Flynn gave her some more kisses before pulling away. He took his underwear off, trying to ignore Rapunzel's stares (this girl was too funny), and slipped on the condom. Better safe than sorry. He sighed, looking at her. She said she was sure about this…

He positioned himself again, propping himself up on his hands. He felt a lot worse than he should have. It was just that he felt kind of bad taking away her innocence like this. Girls always imagined their first time to be magical and romantic and perfect, and that was not at all what he was going to give her. It was sad, really. She deserved to be in love with the one she was losing her virginity too. But he wasn't going to stop just because he felt bad for her. "This might hurt a bit," he said. "Are you ready?"

Rapunzel felt like being brave and kissed him quickly, the first kiss that she had initiated with him. "Yes. I'm ready." She wasn't exactly sure what he meant by it hurting, but she trusted him and she knew this would be okay.

Flynn took a deep breath and slowly pushed into her. Rapunzel gasped, not really expecting it to feel like that. It hurt a lot and she felt tears form in her eyes. "Shh," Flynn muttered, feeling more sympathy for her than he should have. He wiped a tear away with the back of his thumb. "It'll feel really good in a minute or two."

He was right about that. The pain ended soon enough and Rapunzel couldn't help but smile a bit at being so connected with someone. She hadn't expected things to turn out like this, but she was glad that it did.

Flynn grinned at her, giving her a kiss. She just looked so goddamn cute right now that he couldn't resist. Anyway, it was driving him crazy being inside of her and not moving, so he slowly moved his hips away just to go back in. Rapunzel hadn't been expecting this and cried out a little, and Flynn ignored her, because she would get used to it soon enough.

He picked up his pace a little, and Rapunzel seemed to be alright with this. She moaned and wrapped his legs around him, holding onto him. "Flynn," she moaned. This was nothing like she had imagined this to be, but it wasn't bad. She was kind of enjoying it.

Flynn wasn't used to girls saying his name during sex. It made things a little too…_personal_. Although he didn't really mind, because it was good that they remembered the greatness that was Flynn Rider. "Oh my god…babe…" he groaned, speeding up more. He let out a slew of unintelligible swear words while Rapunzel just made soft, cute noises.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore, but he doubted she was anywhere near close with it being her first time. He reached his hand down between her legs and began playing with her until finally she moaned his name again and loosened her grip on him a little. Flynn came at the same time she did, collapsing on top of her. He rolled off, onto his back, and pulled the covers over them.

Rapunzel had no idea what to say. She couldn't believe she just _did_ that. She had been really into trying new things lately, apparently. But it was…well, she didn't really know how to describe it.

Flynn was still breathing heavily. "Well, you are awesome, my dear." It was true. She was a pretty good fuck, even if it was her first time. One thing was for sure, he definitely didn't want to leave her quite yet.

"Did I…do everything right?" Rapunzel asked nervously. She hadn't done much but lie there; she wasn't sure what else there was to do.

"You were perfect, baby," Flynn said, kissing her. She was better than any girl he'd had in the past month or so, but that was probably just because of how cute she was.

Rapunzel giggled, getting butterflies in her stomach every time they kissed. "Thank you, Flynn."

He grinned at her. "Well, you're welcome, beautiful." He sighed contently, looking back at the ceiling. She was a lot more pleasant to be around than most girls he was with. His drinks from earlier must have been wearing off, because he felt almost totally sober again. _He was sober and he wasn't disgusted being in the same bed with her. That was something new…_

"You know, the night's still young," Flynn began. "We could still have a lot of fun together."

Rapunzel started imagining things at that, but she decided to ask what he meant. "Like what, exactly?"

"Hmm…" Flynn was already trying to think of ways to get back inside her, and he wasn't sure how quickly she would be up for that. Being with a girl without doing sexual things with each other was just a waste of time though. "Could I maybe buy you some drinks?"

Rapunzel had seen that move from the nights she had sat at the bar. Men tried to do that when they wanted to flirt with a girl. She herself had even been offered drinks a few times, but she refused, because she didn't exactly trust people yet. With Flynn, though, she guessed she had no problem accepting the offer. "Alright," Rapunzel said, smiling and nodding. She sat up, keeping the cover around her, and looked around for her clothes.

It would be a waste to get her dressed again, with what he had planned for later in the night… "Actually, you can just stay right here. I'll go get some drinks and bring them up. Sound good?" Flynn stood up from the bed and got his clothes back on.

"Yep. I'll be here," Rapunzel said. Flynn left to go back to the bar and Rapunzel fell back onto the bed, smiling and trying to process everything that happened this night.

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><p><strong>AN: I know it cut off kind of quickly there, but I figured this chapter was getting too long. I already have ideas for the next two chapters. Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm sorry this chapter is rather short and not particularly good. I hope you like it anyway. I got way more reviews on this story than I expected, so thank you. Reviews make me happy.**

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><p>Flynn came back in a few minutes with his arms full of drinks, most of them extremely strong. He set them carefully on the floor next to the bed and crouched beside them while Rapunzel moved to the edge of the bed so she could sit up and face him.<p>

"You can drop the blanket, honey," Flynn said, gesturing to the cover that she still had wrapped around her chest.

Rapunzel shook her head quickly and looked down at the drinks. "So, we're going to drink…all of these?" She had only had a few drinks before, and she knew what happened when people had too many.

"Well, yes, that's the intention." Flynn picked up a shot and handed it to her. "Here you go."

Rapunzel looked it quizzically, sniffing it. Flynn rolled his eyes. "Better if you just get it over with." Geez. He knew she was innocent, but didn't she at least have experience with drinking?

Rapunzel downed the shot, handing the glass back to him. She felt really…adventurous, for some reason. Even more so than earlier tonight. Flynn grinned at her. This was going to be easy. It wasn't like he was _forcing _her drinks or anything. She obviously wanted to, and that was good with him, because he was sure she would be willing to go another round after she got a few drinks in her system.

They drank about equally, trading off. It didn't take long for Rapunzel to get all weird and giggly. She didn't really know why exactly she was going along with this, but it was fun and she kind of liked it. "Do you…get drunk often, Flynn?" she asked, stumbling over her words a bit.

"Pretty often, yeah," Flynn said. Almost every night, actually. Well, only the nights he spent at bars. Which was a lot of nights. "And you?"

Rapunzel shook her head. "Nope. Where I lived, well…there was no alcohol in my house." It would take way too long to explain just exactly where she had lived – which was a seventy foot tower. "This is way more than I've ever had."

"No alcohol?" Flynn asked, taking a sip of his drink and raising an eyebrow. He probably wouldn't be able to live like that. He couldn't really get over how innocent this girl was. But even so, she was pretty good tonight. "That's sad, babe. How are you feeling now?"

Rapunzel smiled at how he always kept saying cute things like that. "Well, I'm pretty good. You?"

"Never better," Flynn said, going to sit next to her on the bed so he could pull her into a very sloppy kiss.

Rapunzel had to say she was getting quite good at this kissing business. She could do it now without much concentration at all. Flynn was so much fun to kiss, too. She wondered if all kissing was like this or just the kind he did.

"Come on. Let's finish the rest of these, huh?" Flynn said, giving her another drink. She downed it happily. She liked this feeling. It made her feel happy. Much better than just drinking a little bit, which is what she had done before.

Soon enough, they had finished all the drinks he brought, and by this point they were both very drunk. Rapunzel felt kind of dizzy, like she couldn't control what she was thinking, and everything seemed funny, but honestly she didn't care about how weird it was.

Flynn was used to this feeling, and honestly he felt a little more comfortable, because this was the state he was usually in when he had sex. "We finished them," he said, kissing her suddenly, pushing her down against the bed.

Rapunzel giggled. "But you're gonna get more, right?"

"No. I think we're good, actually," he said, moving so that he was under the covers with her. He was so thankful she was already naked.

"But I want more," Rapunzel complained, kissing the corner of his mouth with a little pout.

"Sorry, then," Flynn said. "I think we're through for tonight."

"We're going to sleep?" Rapunzel asked incredulously. She didn't want to go to sleep yet! She was having too much fun.

"No, no. We can stay up as long as you like."

Rapunzel grinned at this and kissed him again. He responded very enthusiastically. She wasn't quite sure how he did it, but within just a few moments he had all his clothes completely off, and she didn't mind at all. Rapunzel wondered vaguely if this was going to hurt again, but it had felt good in the end last time, so she wasn't worried.

As it turned out, it only hurt a tiny bit, and that went away soon enough. Rapunzel wasn't paying much attention to anything. She kissed him throughout almost the entire time, letting him whatever he was doing. He seemed to be going faster, but she didn't mind. She didn't really mind anything right now. Somewhere in the mist of it all, it ended. Then she kissed him a bit more, and it started again soon afterwards. Rapunzel wasn't sure how many times they went through this cycle, but finally they realized that they were both exhausted. After all, it must have been very late by this point.

They lay there in bed looking at each other. Flynn could feel the effects of the drinks slowly fading, but he was still drunk enough not to have very much common sense. "You…are amazing, baby," he muttered, kissing her sweetly.

"Please. I'm pretty average," Rapunzel said.

"No. Honestly, this is the best night I've had in a very long time." This was true, mostly, even though he was just saying it because she was intoxicated. Rapunzel wasn't very…um…_experienced_, but she was cute and she was fun to be around.

"Me too," Rapunzel said, nodding. Everything they did tonight was certainly very different from anything she had ever done, but she kind of liked trying new things. And she had to admit that she really liked Flynn. She knew she had only known him for a couple of hours…but she had already done so maybe things with him! Rapunzel didn't understand much about relationships except for what she had read in books, but she definitely thought she and Flynn had some sort of…chemistry, or something like that.

Rapunzel closed her eyes, enjoying the soft feeling of the pillow under her head. She was so, so tired… She lazily reached out for Flynn, putting an arm on him. He moved closer, burying his head near his shoulder, placing soft kisses there.

"Night, Flynn," Rapunzel said, very quietly, already half-asleep. She turned around, trying to get herself comfortable. Now that she was facing away from him, Flynn wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. Rapunzel vaguely thought about how it was nice having someone to sleep in the same bed with, because she had never done that before.

Flynn could feel her breathing become slow and even and assumed that she was probably asleep. To be honest, he was way too lazy and tired to get up and go get his own room, so he supposed sleeping with her for tonight would be okay… He was too drunk to consider that anything bad could happen, and he let sleep come over him without worrying at all.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This is where things get interesting? I sort of had a hard time expressing how they were feeling, and I'm not really sure what's going to happen next, but I hope it enjoy it.**

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><p>Flynn woke up early the next morning with a headache. It took him a little while to remember where he was. This was a familiar feeling for the days when he accidentally fell asleep with a girl before he could leave. He yawned and looked over at the window in the room to see a pale light coming through the curtains. It must have been very early, because by the looks of it, the sun was just starting to come out.<p>

He looked over on his other side and he saw Rapunzel, still very asleep. She wasn't facing him, and he could see just how messed up her hair was right now. How many times did they do it last night? He honestly didn't remember. The last bit of the night was kind of blurry. But he was certain he had enjoyed it.

He smiled a little, thinking about her, until it set in that it was _morning_.

Flynn Rider didn't do morning afters.

Usually he would leave sometime during the night, after the girl had fallen asleep. Or he would part ways with her before she even went to sleep, giving her a thank you and maybe a goodbye kiss. This was one of the unfortunate situations where he had waited too long, and he would just have to hope to be able to sneak out.

He got up from the bed and found his clothes, which were thrown rather carelessly around the room. Trying not to make too much noise, he got dressed and collected anything of his that he saw laying around. Rapunzel had stirred slightly when he got up, but he dismissed this. He barely glanced back at her as he went to the door, opening it. He had done this so many times before it really wasn't a big deal. It would be kind of sad to leave her, though.

Rapunzel had heard the sound of the door closing and slowly opened her eyes, noticing that Flynn was no longer in bed with her. That wasn't right. He had been there just a few hours ago. She pressed her hand to her forehead, not liking the feeling in her head. Had that been him leaving?

She scrambled out of bed and quickly pulled her clothes on, rushing to the door. She wanted to know where he was. He was her first friend she had made since she left the tower and she wasn't just going to let him walk on her.

Rapunzel walked out into the hall and looked around. She turned a corner and found Flynn heading towards the stairs that led to the first level and the bar. "Hey!" she called.

Flynn felt his heart freeze up and came to stop, glancing behind him. He had never been caught walking out before. What was he supposed to do? To keep going would make him more of an asshole than he already was…

"Where are you going?" Rapunzel asked, feeling tears form in her eyes. She really hoped he wouldn't notice that. She shouldn't have been so upset about this anyway, she just didn't understand why he would want to leave her. She thought he liked her…

He hesitated. "Well I, uh, I should really get going…" he said awkwardly.

Rapunzel tried to understand this but she just couldn't. She didn't know much about the way people acted towards each other. Was it normal for people to leave each other like this? It didn't seem logical. "But, I…I thought we had something together…something special…" She had never really given much thought about romance, but she knew what happened last night couldn't have not been important.

"Well, I…" Flynn paused. She actually thought they had something more together than an innocent fling? What was wrong with this girl? What was wrong with _him_? He shouldn't have made her think that. God, why hadn't he realized what he was doing to her before he did it?

Rapunzel stayed where she was, looking down and wiping a few tears away with her sleeve. She didn't want to cry in front of him. He didn't even care about her.

Overwhelmed with guilt, he turned around and started towards her. "Hey, do you want me to stay for a little while? Because I guess I _could_…" he said softly, looking at her and taking one of her hands in his. He didn't normally make contact with a girl unless he was trying to win her over, which apparently he had already done, perhaps more than he had wanted. Bottom line was he was worried about her. She didn't seem very stable and as heartless as he was, he couldn't just leave her without knowing she would be okay.

"Um, if you…want to…it doesn't really matter, I guess," Rapunzel muttered. She wasn't really sure what she wanted. She didn't want him to _leave_, but she hadn't thought about the future yet. It would be nice to have a friend to keep her company, though. She had been alone ever since she left her tower. She always felt so confused and without support.

"Okay," Flynn said, frowning because he could tell that she was avoiding look at him. "Just for a bit, though." He was _definitely _not committing himself to anything. She should realize just how unusual it was for him to make a gesture like this. It was _not _common practice for Flynn Rider to care about the well being of his lovers. At least, not like this.

Rapunzel nodded slowly. She felt so unbelievably stupid for getting the wrong impression of him, and now making him stay, which he probably didn't even want. She felt a bit better when he leaned down to kiss her forehead, but she still wasn't sure. She didn't have enough experience with people to tell how they were really feeling.

They stayed in the hallway for a long time before Flynn finally dropped her hand. He hated morning afters in general, but he'd never had one quite like this. What was he supposed to do? Suggesting more sex did not seem like the right thing at the moment. "How are you feeling?" He guessed that was a good thing to ask.

Rapunzel sniffled a bit and sighed, wiping away those couple of tears that were starting to dry up. "I'm okay, I guess." Honestly, she felt terrible. She was confused and her head hurt and it was killing her that she didn't really understand what had happened last night. But he didn't need to know that.

"You hungry at all?" he asked.

"I suppose I am, a little," Rapunzel said.

"I'm sure we can get something to eat, if you want to," Flynn said, thinking about how this was going to go down. Breakfast was the normal thing for couples to do in the morning, right? He usually skipped it. It's not like he had enough money to spend on three meals a day, anyway. He wasted all of his extra cash on drinks, usually.

Rapunzel nodded. "Yeah, that would be good, actually." She figured she might feel better once she had eaten.

"Come on then," Flynn said, starting to walk down towards the stairs. He didn't look behind him but she was following very close behind him anyway. He awkwardly crossed his arms over his chest, because they weren't a couple, and he wasn't going to do something ridiculous like hold her hand, even if he _was _taking care of her at least for today.

It was way too early for the bar to be open, and as he led her outside and looked around at the street, he wasn't quite sure if _anything _would be open. It was still pretty dark out, really, and there was no one around. He would just have to search for a restaurant that would let them in.

He found one soon enough, and she followed him inside the small, yet somewhat appealing looking, restaurant, which was almost completely empty. The sun was coming out more now so Flynn hoped more people would show up. He didn't much favor people overhearing his conversations.

They sat down at a table next to window and ordered two stacks of pancakes. He wasn't quite what to say to her. "Do you want coffee?"

Rapunzel shook her head. "Mother says I'm too hyper to have – I mean, no." Stupid, stupid. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about her old life anymore.

Flynn shrugged a bit as the waitress bought his coffee a few minutes later. He was hoping it might help wake him up. Probably not. "So, uh, I guess we didn't get much sleep last night," he started, sipping his drink.

"No, I don't really think so," Rapunzel said, blushing slightly and looking away. She couldn't exactly remember how late it was when they went to bed. "I just remember a lot of kissing and cuddling and…"

"Fucking," Flynn supplied.

"Uh, sure," Rapunzel said, raising an eyebrow because she was not very familiar with that term. He sure did like to swear a lot, though.

"Eat up, baby," he said as their pancakes were set down in front of him. Rapunzel dug into hers with more excitement than he deemed necessary. She hadn't had anything to eat last night, after all. The food gave Flynn an excuse not to talk to her, which was nice.

"Hmm, this is really good," Rapunzel said, feeling more like herself. "I used to make these a lot, actually."

"Oh, cool," Flynn said. He honestly didn't give a damn about her choice of breakfast item. At least she wasn't crying though… "I guess they're pretty good."

Rapunzel nodded and smiled as they both finished their meals. She sat up straighter as she realized something. "Oh, I…don't really have any money." She had a tiny bit back in the room, but that was hardly anything, and she couldn't get to it right now anyway.

"Well, I'll pay for you," Flynn said. To be truthful, he didn't have very much money either. He usually just stole whatever he wanted. But he pretended like this was cool with him.

"Thank you," Rapunzel said, smiling sheepishly and feeling guilty again.

"No problem," he muttered, rolling his eyes and taking some money out of his pocket.

Rapunzel sighed and frowned a bit. Maybe she should have left him leave. He certainly seemed to like her last night, but now she wasn't so sure… "Okay. Still thank you, though."

"It's fine, babe," he said, shrugging a bit. He sighed, still thinking about what to do. He wanted to devise a plan for him to leave, but he couldn't do that after seeing how helpless she was. Maybe he should enjoy his time with her. It would only be a little while. "Let's go back to the inn, huh?"

Rapunzel nodded, because she felt rather tired and weary and resting might be a good idea. She stood up and straightened out her dress, which she realized didn't look quite right since she'd been in such a rush to get it on.

After leaving the correct amount of money on the table, Flynn stood up and kissed her cheek. Rapunzel didn't quite understand this. He kept giving her mixed signals. Figuring she would just have to wait and see, she smiled and gave him a kiss before leading him outside.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This is just a short little filler chapter. And maybe some attempt at developing their relationship. I don't know.**

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><p>Flynn and Rapunzel lie next to each other in bed, both fully clothed, to Flynn's disappoint, if not hers. He looked over at her, sighing. "How are you feeling?"<p>

"Kind of weird…my head hurts," Rapunzel complained.

"Well, yeah, that'd be from all the drinks last night."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, right, you've never gotten wasted before…" There was an awkward pause. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with her. "But it's common for that to happen."

"My head isn't going to…explode, or anything?"

Flynn shook his head. "Definitely not."

"Can we drink again tonight?" Rapunzel asked suddenly.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, well, I guess we _could_. You enjoyed last night, huh?" Well, he could understand that. All girls enjoyed nights with him. "But I don't want to be too much of a bad influence on you." Truthfully, he didn't give a damn about whether he was a bad example for her, he just didn't want her hanging around him.

"Oh, I don't think you are. In fact, I think you're very nice," Rapunzel said, smiling and kissing him.

_Of course I would act nice to someone who's giving me sex_… "I am nice. But sometimes I don't, uh, do nice things. Corona is trying to arrest me, you know."

Rapunzel thought back to the wanted posters she had been seeing around. She didn't really understand them. Especially now that she had met this Flynn Rider and he was the most amazing guy ever. It would be mean to arrest him… "I hope they don't get you, though. That would be a shame…"

"I hope so too, babe. But you never know. For that reason, I don't think I should stay around much longer. I need to move around a lot, in my line of work…" Flynn said, phrasing his words so he sounded cool.

"What _is _your line of work, exactly?"

"Oh. Nothing organized or anything like that. I'll just steal the occasional thing or two when I need some money. It tends to make me unpopular… Except with girls. I'm still very popular with girls," Flynn said, considering this. They were probably into the whole bad boy thing.

Rapunzel thought about this. She wasn't sure that she liked the fact that he was stealing _or _the fact that he'd been with a lot of girls. But other than that, he was alright. "You could be worse…"

"Yeah, but…" Flynn's voice trailed away as he realized he didn't quite know how to explain to her that he wanted to leave. He didn't want to hurt her feelings or anything. Maybe he'd just see how the rest of the day played out. "Aside from the head thing, how are you?"

"I'm pretty good," Rapunzel said, giving him a little smile.

"I'm glad to hear it. What would you like to do today?" Maybe it was the least he could do to stay with her for _just _today. It could be fun, too… He never really liked leaving town. Relaxing with a pretty girl before leaving could be a nice change.

Rapunzel yawned a little. "I don't know, I'm still a bit tired…not hungry anymore." She was also rather confused and conflicted as far as her relationship with Flynn went. She was trying not to think about it too much. He had agreed to stay, and that must have meant something. Thinking about it more than that just made her head hurt even worse.

"Maybe you should get some sleep. Like a nap," Flynn suggested.

"I…but…last time I slept you went away…"

"No, no, I promise I won't go away this time," Flynn whispered, leaning over her and kissing the side of her face. "I'll stay at least the rest of the day, alright? Can't make any promises after that, but…"

Rapunzel nodded shakily, feeling emotional again but making sure she wouldn't cry. One day was plenty generous of enough. "Okay, thanks…" Rapunzel muttered.

"Baby, you really shouldn't get all sad over this. I'm not that special." He sighed and pulled her on top of him. "I mean, I am. But no more than anyone else, really."

"But you seem special to me…" Rapunzel said, looking at him with such intensity that it was hard for him not to look away. He had almost forgotten that girls felt attachment to whomever they lost their virginity to. _Stupid Flynn…_last night had definitely been a mistake.

"I'm not, really. Just wait. You'll be happier without me soon. I'm a jerk."

"No, you're not," Rapunzel said, smiling innocently and kissing his cheek. "You're the nicest person I've ever met."

"I…wait, what?" Flynn asked, pulling away slightly and raising an eyebrow.

Upon realizing what she said, Rapunzel quickly blushed and looked away. "Nothing. Nothing. I just haven't met very many people, and…"

"What do you mean?"

Rapunzel was definitely not explaining her life story to him. She wanted to forget about all of that. "I was sort of isolated growing up." _Sort of? More like completely… _"You're the first person I've ever felt this attached to." There was just something about him. He was nice to her and he liked her. In her eyes, they just went together well, even if she'd only known him less than a day.

"A-attached?" Flynn could practically feel himself sputtering. Now would be the time to _run_. No girl should feel attached to him after only one night. Unfortunately, he had promised he would stay for a while. Then again, he never really kept a promise… "That's…well, thank you."

"Do you feel like that at all?" Rapunzel asked, wondering if she had made him uncomfortable.

He slowly shook his head, knowing he must have looked extremely foolish. He was so nervous that he wouldn't be surprised if she could feel the overly fast beat of his heart. Rapunzel looked saddened by his response, so, clearing his throat, he tried to keep his cool and explain. "I don't really get attached to anyone. It's not my style. But you know what? I do like you. I really, really do." He looked at her and nodded slightly, showing that he was sincere. Maybe he was just trying to make her feel better, but it was the truth. She was a nice girl, nicer than most of the chicks he slept with. That didn't mean he felt any sort of commitment towards her, but she was nice…

Rapunzel smiled a bit at this, and he took this opportunity to smirk and kiss her. Now that they were back to physical contact he didn't feel anywhere near as uneasy. It was just the talking about feelings that he couldn't stand.

Rapunzel kissed him back eagerly, getting pretty good at this. Maybe if she kissed him well enough he would like her more… Yes, that seemed like a reasonable idea. Maybe she could get him to stay longer. Smiling at her logic, she started to undress him, hoping she was doing everything right.

Flynn smirked and decided to help her out, kissing her more passionately while his hands fumbled with their clothing. It had been a little while since he had done anything like this while completely sober, but it seemed to be just as much fun. Successful in taking her dress off, he pulled her close against him, not breaking their kiss. Rapunzel, still learning about all of this, tried to remember what they had done last night and attempted to copy that, slowly removing his clothes and kissing him. She hoped she was doing everything right. She seemed to be, from the way he was touching her and kissing her that roughly. Flynn finally placed his hips on her hips and helped guide her through the whole process, which he really didn't mind doing… With any other girl, he would probably be annoyed by her lack of experience, but with her it didn't bother him at all.

Afterwards, Rapunzel lay on top of him as he kisses her forehead absentmindedly. She almost wanted to ask him if he felt differently about her now, but she would wait. It was clear he felt something for her just by the way he was acting, no matter what he said. She sighed and nuzzled her face into his neck, getting sleepy.

Meanwhile, Flynn thought about her, his situation, and what to do next as he slowly felt her breathing get calm and even, a sign that she was asleep. Well, there was no way he would able to move her off of him without waking her. Looked like he'd have to stay for now.

Besides, she looked so cute while she slept that there was no way he could break his promise.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I **_**promise **_**things will get more interesting soon… Uh. Keep reading and reviewing. And also thank you to the reviewers who gave me some ideas.**

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><p>That evening, Flynn and Rapunzel went back to their room after he bought her dinner. That was two meals in one day that he had to buy for her. And that was skipping lunch… Thankfully she hadn't shown any interest in eating towards the middle of the day – they were too busy doing other things – because if she had, Flynn would probably flip out on her…<p>

He was used to buying girls drinks – he did that constantly, whether to impress them or to try to get them a little tipsy so they wouldn't be so goddamn reluctant. Sometimes he bought girls dinner too, if he was hanging around for a few hours… What he was not used to was buying girls food for the sole purpose of being nice. And he didn't like it.

"Don't you have any money?" he demanded over dinner after the check came. He was done with being gentlemanly by now. Perhaps he should have been more careful, but he was short-tempered sometimes when things annoyed him.

"I…I left it in the room," Rapunzel muttered, embarrassed and hurt and looking away.

"If this is going to go on for much longer, we're going to have to keep it even…" Flynn had said the words before he knew what he was doing, intent on searching through his pockets to see just how much cash he had with him. Was this really going to go on for much longer?

"I'll pay you back," Rapunzel said, still looking down.

"Don't," Flynn said, rather harshly. He wasn't really worried about being too nice to her. He figured he wouldn't stay too long anyway, so it didn't matter.

They argued on the way back to the room. Or rather, Flynn ranted on about how he was going to run out of money soon and that's why he _definitely _had to leave her, while Rapunzel mainly listened and hung her head in shame.

She awkwardly sat down on the bed and looked up at him, building up the courage to talk. "Um, Flynn? You don't seem very happy here…"

Something about this kind of broke his heart. He didn't want to make her feel like any of this was her fault, he was the one who had been stupid enough not to leave and he was the one getting paranoid about little things. So he did what he usually did when something hurt his feelings: Change the topic and pretend like it was nothing. "No, no, I'm perfectly happy," he said, walking over to the dresser, purposely facing away from Rapunzel. "So where's that money of yours?"

Rapunzel got up and opened the drawer she had been keeping it in, stepping back. There wasn't much. It would last them maybe a week or two. Wait, why was he thinking ahead that much? He wouldn't be here. Best thing to do, really, would be to leave as soon as possible. Then he could go back to stealing. But then there was _her_.

"So, uh, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah." Rapunzel nodded.

"Just, what's your…plan? I can't stay with you forever, so what are you going to do? This is all you have, right?"

"Yeah, it is." She thought for a second. "I don't know, really…I didn't plan ahead too much when I left."

"When you left what?"

"My house," Rapunzel muttered simply.

"Oh, you left home? Like, ran away?"

Rapunzel nodded shyly, not looking at him. She walked back to the bed and sat down. She really didn't want to tell him about this. It had nothing to do with him.

Flynn grinned and glanced at her. "We're starting to sound more alike, you know. Of course, I left the orphanage before eighteen. But same difference."

Orphanage? Rapunzel found this curious, but she decided not to ask. She smiled. "Really? You think we're alike? I think so too."

"Yeah, baby, I do," Flynn said, before turning back to the dresser. He was basically lying. This was about the one thing he had in common with her. On the whole, she was way too young and innocent for him. Then again, he really didn't know much about her. He hadn't been paying much attention to what she said. He was more interested in the way she looked.

He pulled open another drawer and cleared his throat. "Uh, what is this?"

"What is _what_?"

He lifted up a necklace from the drawer, one out of a few pieces of jewelry in there, and showed it to her. It was fairly fancy. Not worth a fortune or anything, but Flynn was good at appraising goods, and it was definitely worth something. "This is, uh, a good collection you have here."

Rapunzel giggled and looked at him. "That? It's nothing. I just took it from home, I never wear any of it."

Flynn looked at her and noticed, for the first time, that she wasn't wearing any jewelry. Or nail polish. Or makeup. Or anything, really. Just to add to her pure and innocent persona.

"So why'd you bring it with you?"

Rapunzel shrugged. "Because my mother gave most of them to me as a present. Also they were small enough to bring with me." Also, she thought having something somewhat valuable might help out… But she was counting on that as a kind of back up option.

"Oh." Flynn nodded. "Well, look at the time. It's getting late." As Rapunzel turned around to look at the clock, Flynn quickly pocketed the jewelry, something he was good at. He smirked and walked over to the bed. "Getting late enough for bed, don't you think?"

Rapunzel nodded. "Yeah, I'm kind of tired." She giggled. "I've slept so much today already."

"Well that's because I kept you up so late last night," Flynn said, grinning and swooping down to give her a quick kiss. Rapunzel blushed, feeling some kind of funny feeling in her stomach, like butterflies but not at all unpleasant. She felt like that a lot around him.

Flynn pulled his pants off and kicked them off to the wall on his side of the bed, everything still in his pockets. She wouldn't find anything out. He climbed into bed and Rapunzel looked over at him. "You're still wearing underwear."

Flynn grinned. "Oh, well if you have a problem with it, I can easily fix that problem."

Rapunzel shook her head and laughed. "It's fine with me."

"Oh." Flynn scowled and rolled over. No sex tonight? Fine. He'd gotten enough anyway. "Maybe you should get some rest," he suggested.

"Yeah, maybe," Rapunzel said, shrugging. She paused for a minute. "So no drinking?"

"No drinking," Flynn said. He wasn't in the mood tonight, weirdly enough. He didn't think getting drunk with a girl he knew would be anywhere near as much fun. Besides, he felt weird around her. And he was still kind of moody from having to hang out with her all day. The only fun part was when they had sex. Other that than that, he felt awkward around her. They didn't have much to talk about and he wasn't very good at comforting her.

"Maybe another time, then," Rapunzel said, pulling the covers over herself.

He nodded. "Yeah, soon. Now go to sleep."

Rapunzel nodded, not wanting to argue with him. "Goodnight, Flynn. Thank you for being here." She quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek before going back to her side of the bed, sighing and trying to get tired. She would have liked to stay up and talk, but she didn't think he wanted that. She couldn't tell what he wanted. He had confused her a lot today, but at least he had stuck around. She remembered that he had only promised to stay until tonight. Put off by this thought, she had a very hard time trying to fall asleep. After many minutes of thinking, she spoke up in a small voice, "Flynn?"

"Yeah?" He glanced over at her, feeling tired but not to point that he couldn't pay attention.

"Are you going to be here in the morning?" she asked, swallowing as she remembered how she felt this morning when he had gone.

"Um. Yes, I will." It had crossed his mind to leave during the night tonight; he hadn't decided yet.

"Are you sure?"

Damn. She really wasn't going to let him go – at least not without being guilt tripped for the rest of his life. "Yes, I'm sure. I wouldn't leave you without saying goodbye." It was true. Hurting people wasn't something he liked to do, and he tried to avoid it if he could.

Rapunzel nodded and tried to go to sleep again. Meanwhile, Flynn just sighed and stared at the wall, trying to figure this out. He needed to get out. Immediately. One more day, more a few more days… He would make sure she was okay to be alone, and then he'd get out of here… His mind occupied with these thoughts, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

It was a few hours before he woke up again. It was the middle of the night and Rapunzel was still fast asleep. He decided to get up for a while. He slipped his clothes back on quietly and sneaked out the door, being very quiet. He wasn't planning on leaving for good, but it would have been a disaster if Rapunzel woke up.

Flynn walked down to the bar and took a seat. It was late – after midnight, at least. It looked like the majority of the bar-goers had gone home or gotten a room. There were still some people around, either alone or too drunk to care what time it is. Flynn scanned the room for any hot girls. Not bad… Hell, this would be _easy_. They were probably already drunk enough that he wouldn't have to spend much time flirting with them at all.

But he couldn't. Not tonight. Not when he was…occupied. He refused to use the word 'taken,' since Rapunzel was just some chick he got stuck with. If it wasn't for her, this might have been a very good night.

Sighing, Flynn decided to get a drink or two before returning back to the room alone.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter…I don't really know…**

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><p>"What do you want to do today, Flynn?" Rapunzel asked happily as they walked around outside. She was holding his hand, swinging their arms back and forth, as if it was <em>okay <em>for her to do that. To anyone passing by, they might have looked a normal, happy couple, which was not the case. Rapunzel didn't seem to understand this, though – in her mind, they _were _a couple, despite only having known each other two days, and displaying that fact publicly was perfectly fine with her.

She was in a much better mood today than yesterday. Yesterday she had been very worried about Flynn leaving her, but today she had realized that it wasn't something she should be so concerned about. He would leave if he wanted to – there was nothing she could do about that – but she could at least show him how much she liked him, and maybe convince him to stick around.

Flynn rolled his eyes at the girl. "I don't know." He didn't feel like giving her much attention. Maybe his attitude had to do with the fact that he was pissed off with her holding his hand. Every girl that passed him noticed their hand-holding, and proceeded to sneer at Flynn and not even give him a second glace. She was ruining his whole reputation.

"Well, what do you usually do for fun?" Rapunzel asked, oblivious to his unhappiness.

"Let's see. Steal things, have sex, run away from guards, and get drunk," Flynn said, counting off the items on his fingers.

Rapunzel frowned and tried to ignore his comment. "Well, I'm sure there are more fun things to do than just that. There aren't any guards here, right?"

"Nope. We're far enough away from the kingdom that it's not a problem." They were, in fact, in the next town over from Corona. Just about as close as Flynn could get to the kingdom without being in danger. Corona was where he did _most _of his stealing – at least, that's the only place where he had got caught recently.

"Good. I don't want them to take you for from me." Rapunzel really needed to learn how to think before she spoke. Now it sounded like she owned him. She blushed and looked away, hoping he didn't hear her. It was probably too late. "I mean, I don't want you to get hurt…"

"I don't wanna get hurt either, baby," Flynn said, still looking around the other girls nearby. So this is what it felt like to be tied down. This was definitely why he had never had a proper girlfriend before. This _sucked_.

"You said you stole things, right? What…kind of things did you steal?" Rapunzel asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Flynn shrugged a little bit. "Anything. Sometimes things that I actually _need_, like food or clothes, but usually just valuable stuff that I can sell later." _Such as your jewelry that I have hidden under the bed_, he thought to himself. "It works out. It's harder than it sounds, though."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah." He didn't feel like going into it. Talking about his profession was never a good idea. For one thing, it made him feel guilty. He wasn't _all _bad – he didn't really _like _stealing, he just…got into the habit of it. He wished things could have worked out differently, but no. He was stuck in this cycle. Steal, drink, sleep, leave, repeat… The second reason he didn't like talking about it was because he could never know who was listening. Now, he highly doubted Rapunzel had any connections to the security department of Corona, but after being a thief for so long, Flynn was rather paranoid about this.

But anyway, being a thief was by no means _easy_. He had plans things carefully and be extremely sneaky. For example, he had had the idea to steal the Lost Princess's crown for ages now, but he still hadn't gotten around it. That was more of a daydream, though. Pulling that off would be nearly impossible. He would need accomplices and a well thought out plan and lots of luck. Still, just thinking about how much money he could make off that thing made him sick with anticipation.

"Well, I don't think stealing is particularly nice…" Rapunzel said, muttering a bit. She didn't want to tell him that he was doing anything wrong. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought – after all, she wasn't very familiar with the rules of society.

Flynn frowned. She wasn't helping. "No, it's, um, not nice. But hey, what can I do?"

"Well, you could pay for things," Rapunzel suggested.

"No, I can't," Flynn said. "I'm not exactly rolling in cash or anything."

Rapunzel nodded, oblivious once again to the fact that she made him upset, and looked around. Something caught her eye and she smiled, coming to a stop. "Can we go inside?" she asked brightly, facing a storefront.

"Um…" Flynn looked in her direction, coming face to face with a dress shop. A wave of unpleasantness hit him, and he grimaced. "Yeah, sure."

Rapunzel smiled and pulled him inside. The store wasn't any better now that he was in it. It was small and relatively empty, but there were lots of dresses, and it smelled girly and Flynn did not like it. Rapunzel grinned and started looking at all the clothes, making comments about the fabric and the patterns and a bunch of boring stuff. Just shopping for clothes was bad enough, but no, Rapunzel didn't even seem interested in buying them, she just wanted to _study _them. What a freak…

"Oh, look at this one! See the embroidery on the bottom? That must have taken _ages_!" She examined the dress closely, smiling.

"Well, if you like it, take it."

"No, I…"

"Come on, take it." Flynn just wanted to get out of here – getting her a dress seemed like a good way to do it.

"Well, getting a new dress would be…nice?" Rapunzel said, smiling sheepishly. For the first time, Flynn actually looked at her dress. It was pretty. It was different shades of purple and had a bunch of different details on it – did she make it herself?

"Yeah." He smiled encouragingly at her and handed her the light green dress. "See? It would look great on you," he said, holding it up next to her. Just feeding her lies. He was pretty sure she would look great in anything.

"Yeah?" Rapunzel asked, smiling and blushing. "Can I really buy it, then?"

"Ah, nope. I'm afraid that if you want it, you'll have to steal it," Flynn said, smirking. He was partially messing with her and partially trying to teach her a lesson. He couldn't deal with her being so _good_. He needed to change that, and this was an easy way to do so.

"But I don't wanna – "

"Shh." Flynn silenced her momentarily by placing a hand over her mouth. "This is just a dress, so it'll be easy. Just do what I tell you too."

Rapunzel, quite intimidated, nodded. She wasn't comfortable with this idea, but she didn't want to argue with him. Maybe this was what normal people did…

Flynn lowered his voice to a whisper and looked around the shop. "Okay, so I'll go distract the owner, and then you can run out…of that back door." He pointed towards the back of the shop. This was too easy.

"Do you think that's gonna work…?"

"Yeah, I do. Everyone else in here is too busy browsing. Trust me, I know what I'm doing." He had lots of practice in similar situations… Never with a dress, of course, but the point still stood. Giving her a pat on the shoulder, he pushed her back, next to the door that she was to go out of it, and smiled at her before giving her another reminder. "Now, when I start talking to them, that's when you go, okay?"

Rapunzel nodded shakily, giving him a little smile.

"Good girl," he said, and made his way over to the front of the shop where the owner was. Rapunzel watched him eagerly. Her hands were sweaty as she held the dress, waiting for the right moment. It _was _a pretty dress, but she didn't know if she wanted it enough to do this. She looked down at the dress, contemplating this, until she remembered she was supposed to be watching Flynn. Seeing that he had successfully distracted the owner, Rapunzel quickly slipped out of the back door, making sure to be silent and that no one else happened to be watching her. Her heart was pounding as she did so, and she stood against the back of the building breathing heavily. She had been rebellious before, when she left her tower, but this was…different.

Thankfully, there was no one back here to stare at her and make her feel guilty. She was face to face with a forest, not in view of the street which they had previously been on at all. It only took Flynn a few minutes to get back to her, and she was very relieved to see him. But the realization that she had gotten away with this didn't make her feel very good…

"Hey, good job!" Flynn said, smiling.

Rapunzel laughed nervously and looked over at him. "You think so?" She was…_kind of _proud of herself…

"Yeah, for a first time, not bad at all. Of course, I helped you out, so…"

"Yeah, you did. T-thank you," Rapunzel said.

"Go on and wear your new dress," he said, pointing the dress that she was still clutching tightly out of nerves.

"Oh, of course! I'll…go do that now," Rapunzel said, running off behind some bushes and quickly changing dresses, a feat that was easier now that she didn't have to worry about her hair getting in the way. Folding up her old dress and tucking in beneath her arm, she walked out towards Flynn again, blushing and keeping her eyes on the ground.

Flynn smiled upon seeing her. She looked great. And there was something cute about how nervous she was about this whole thing. He was sure that would go away soon enough. "You look beautiful," he said. Beautiful usually was not a word he used to describe women, unless he was trying to suck up to them. But in this case…it was actually true.

Rapunzel grinned and stopped in front of him. "Thanks. That was…fun," she said, kissing him quickly on the mouth.

Flynn smiled back before pulling away from him. "You're welcome," he muttered, caught between being proud of her and feeling guilty for corrupting her. Well, too late now.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This chapter was…sort of fun to write, I guess. Thank you to everyone still reading this story. I love you.**

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><p>After stealing that dress, Rapunzel began acting a lot more open and rebellious. In fact, the first thing she did was pull Flynn into the woods for a make out session, which was quite bold on her part, considering she usually just followed his lead. She still wasn't up to his standards though, because when he started tugging at her new dress, she backed away, but this time with more of a mysterious smile than a blush.<p>

Rapunzel began to act him when she could steal _more _things, but he kindly turned her down, saying that he she couldn't yet, and she would have to give it some time. As much as he loved stealing things, he really did not want to become this chick's mentor. He could couch her on better things than stealing…bedroom activities, for example.

Rapunzel was rather happy for the rest of the day, but as dusk started to fall, she got antsy. She clung to his arm (he didn't really mind anymore) and practically begged him to take her back to the bar so she could drink. It was definitely weird how she was acting as if she was addicted to doing anything bad. She had only done most of it once.

"Why do you want to go to the bar so much, eh? Have I made a monster out of you?" Flynn teased, honestly wanting to know the answer. Corrupting her wasn't really a problem…she obviously needed a bit of fun.

Rapunzel giggled and shrugged a bit. "It's exciting."

He wasn't sure if he had ever seen her look this happy. "Yeah, it kind of is," he said, smiling at her. He preferred her being happy over quiet and secretive.

"It's like…what do you call it? An adrenaline rush. That's it. It's fun. That's why you steal, isn't it?"

He shrugged. She was getting into personal matters and he didn't like that. "That, among other reasons. It's also just a good way to get things. I suppose the adrenaline is part of it, though…"

Rapunzel nodded, as if she was thinking this over critically. It kind of creeped him out. "I see," she said. "I think, though, I wouldn't feel good about stealing anything big or expensive…that's mean…"

"Of course it's mean. Stealing at all is mean," Flynn said.

"But you told me, if it was little things, it didn't matter."

"Well, it…doesn't. But it's still not something you should be doing." Oh, who was he kidding? It wasn't his place to tell her what was right and wrong.

"Oh." Rapunzel looked saddened by this. She didn't want to do anything bad. She just liked the excitement of it. Now she was even more curious though. "Drinking, though, that's alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"Drinking isn't bad, because it doesn't hurt anybody," Rapunzel said.

"Unless you do stupid things while drunk, no."

"Let's do that, then. That sounds nicer than stealing," Rapunzel said. She was still trying to get comfortable with breaking the rules. She would rather do something that only affected herself…

As they were walking around, Flynn could tell Rapunzel was definitely acting more social than usual. Instead of staying close to him, she just loosely held onto his hand as she looked around brightly, smiling a lot. She was looking directly at other people, and she would wave nicely if they noticed her. People were so interesting to her. And apparently she was interesting to them, too. "Flynn. Why are they all looking at me?"

A group of men around Flynn's age had just past, paying particular attention to Rapunzel. "Oh," he said. "Well, because you're pretty."

"You…think I'm pretty?" she asked.

"I think you're gorgeous. You know that."

He was right. She _did_ know that. He had told her it a lot. But it felt good to have him confirm it, and he sounded sincere this time. "Thanks. I, um, think you're gorgeous too," Rapunzel said, nodding proudly.

"Well, obviously," he said, smirking a bit. Did anyone not find him gorgeous? It was nice to be told though. He assumed so many positive things about himself that it was a change when _other _people actually gave him praise.

When they reached the bar, Rapunzel first rushed up to their room, probably to put her dress anyway. Flynn stood and surveyed the bar as he waited for her. It was still early, so there weren't too many people there, but he was sure that would change soon enough.

Rapunzel returned to him with a huge smile on her face, breaking Flynn out of his daze. He had been watching some girls who just came in. "People are so nice, did you know that?" No, he didn't, people weren't nice at all… "I had two different say hello to me when I was walking over to you!"

"Oh, did you?" Flynn asked, sizing up the men at the bar. None looked very scary, and he was better looking than any of them, but…still. She shouldn't be talking to them. "How nice…"

"Mhmm. So, you gonna buy us some drinks?" she asked, poking him playfully. Geez, she was in a good mood. He could only imagine how happy she would be after a few drinks… In fact, that thought was rather enticing, so he grinned at her and walked over to the bar, coming back with drinks for each of them.

"Thank you," she said kindly, taking her drink. She still wasn't used to the taste of alcohol, but she was getting better. It also helped that Flynn had gotten her some fruity, girly drink instead of anything too strong.

"Anytime. So, you got any plans for tonight?" he asked.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "But it depends. If you're going to stay in my room again…" She trailed off, her hand reaching toward him, fingertips brushing against his arm. He had never seen her flirtatious, not really. Well, two could play at that game.

"Oh yeah? Depends if staying there is worth my while," Flynn said smoothly. Could this work? Could he really offer to stay with her just as long as she gave him a good time? That seemed rather rude, but right now, he really didn't give a damn.

"Oh, I'll be very sure to make it worth your while." Her tone was sultry and low, not like her normal excited or embarrassed voice.

Flynn grinned at this, "accidentally" brushing his foot against hers under the table, making Rapunzel giggle. The giggle was pronounced enough that she must have been getting kind of tipsy.

A little while later, Flynn was going to get them more drinks, but when he returned to their table, Rapunzel wasn't there. Oh god where did she run off to? He sighed and put the drinks down, looking around. She shouldn't be on her own in a place like this. He didn't care if she had done it before. But he couldn't see her _anywhere_.

Worried, Flynn scrambled around the bar, asking random people if they'd seen her. "She's about this tall, green dress, short, brown hair," he said, holding his hand out at her approximate height. Soon he got someone to point him in the right direction. Flynn headed off down a hallway on the side of the bar, where there were a few rooms.

One room had its door open, and looking in, he saw Rapunzel getting very close with a man who looked way too old for her. She was laughing and he had this evil smirk as he wrapped his arms around her and their lips met.

That was it. Flynn strode forward and forcefully pushed the man off of her. "What are you doing?" he demanded of Rapunzel.

"Oh, Flynn." But Rapunzel didn't look embarrassed or ashamed, she just looked genuinely pleased to see him. She definitely had too much booze.

"Do you need me to get rid of him for you?" the man asked, glancing at Flynn with a kind of murderous glare.

Yeah, right. As if Rapunzel would prefer this guy over _Flynn Rider_. What was wrong with people? Before Rapunzel could answer, Flynn spoke up, taking deliberate steps towards the man. "Excuse me, but I think _I_ need to get rid of _you_. You better watch it next time before you start flirting with something that's mine." Flynn didn't exactly follow what he preached – he hit on taken girls all the time. But when something like this happened, it was different. It was so different.

The man sneered. "My bad. I didn't realize the lady already had a boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Flynn spat. That was one of the worse words ever. He had never been _anyone's _boyfriend. "I meant she was mine for the _night_, you idiot." Flynn scoffed before putting a hand behind Rapunzel's shoulder, quickly leading her out of the room and well away from where they came. He walked her purposely in the direction of her own room, his head spinning. He was angry. He didn't know what to do with himself. He had never gotten so protective over a girl before, but he wasn't going to waste time thinking about why. It was obviously just because he was surprised.

"What were you doing with him?" Flynn asked harshly, keeping a hand on Rapunzel's arm.

She seemed oblivious to his anger, and smiled somewhat dreamily as she kept walking. "He said he wanted to show me something," she said. She didn't understand why she shouldn't have went and seen it.

"What was it?" he asked curiously.

Rapunzel shrugged. "I'm not sure. He started taking his pants off, but I wasn't paying attention so he kissed me instead." Flynn made a disgusted face, _really _not liking the idea of Rapunzel was another guy. Maybe it was the fact that he was her first time, or maybe he just felt possessive over her.

Rapunzel frowned a bit, not looking happy anymore. "I…didn't like it when he kissed me, though. I promise I didn't. It didn't feel right."

Flynn looked at her, trying to read her expression. She was definitely telling the truth. "Oh…"

"And…if I knew he wanted to kiss me, I never would have followed him. I swear." Rapunzel sighed.

"Well, here's something you should probably keep in mind, sweetheart," Flynn said as he opened the door to her room and they walked inside. "That _everyone _in this bar – at least the males – wants to kiss you." He honestly thought this, because imagining anyone _not _being attracted to Rapunzel was just ridiculous.

"But that's funny, though," Rapunzel said, lapsing back into her drunken, carefree attitude. "Because _you're _the only one that _I _want to kiss." She stepped towards him, poking him on his chest.

"Oh yeah? I must be _incredibly _lucky then," Flynn said, pulling her closer. Luckiest guy in the whole bar, if he got to spend time with her. Ignoring the extra baggage, of course, but that was the last thing on his mind right now.

"Mhmm," Rapunzel said, now resting her hand against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "When you said I was yours for the night, what did you mean by that?"

"Oh." He didn't really have an answer for that. He had said it out of fear of acknowledging anything more between them. After all, she was the type of girl he would usually spend one night with and then never see again. But instead of focusing on any of this, he just smirked, using his free arm to close and lock the door behind him. "Well, we've got all night. Let's just see what I mean."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm a bit on the fence about posting this, since it's very short and nothing important happens. I was considering adding onto it to make it longer and more interesting, but I was like…nah. I kind of just want to get something posted. So here you go. I'm sorry it's boring.**

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><p>Flynn woke up late morning, and the first thing he found was a sleeping, naked Rapunzel with her head against his chest. He yawned and put an arm around her. Morning afters were becoming increasingly common for him. He didn't like this trend. But then again, Rapunzel looked so cute with her hair messed up and her tiny body curled against him and… He shouldn't think like this. She was hot, not cute<p>

There was something relaxing about it, though. Waking up with someone beside him. Someone he knew cared about him and liked him. Maybe he needed that kind of support.

No. He was Flynn Rider, he didn't need anybody.

Everything was just so confusing. He hadn't been acting like himself lately. He thought back on the last couple of days. This was their third morning together. Two days, three nights… That's how long they had spent together thus far. That was a pretty long time. He couldn't even remember the last time he had been with a woman for more than a night. Ever since he started thieving he hadn't had time for real relationships, and he didn't want them anyway. One night stands were better. They kept him from being lonely without things getting complicated.

But then, here he was. What was supposed to be a one night stand had turned into something much more than that. He should have backed away ever since he found out how weird and innocent she was. But she was just so adorable that he couldn't resist her, and… He sighed. What had he gotten himself into?

He promised he would stay with her one day. One day. And now he was going on his third. This was definitely not good. But there was something different about her. Any other girl he could leave without feeling any guilt at all, but with her… Flynn knew that if he left her, he would feel terrible about it. He would worry about what happened to her. He might even miss her. Because she was the closest thing to a friend he'd had in a while. She didn't like him just because of his looks, and she didn't judge him because he was thief. It was…nice.

"Wake up," he muttered quietly, running his hands over her hair. She had soft hair. It was really short though, and choppy… She must have done it herself…

"Hmm." She looked up at him with sleepy eyes, barely opening them. She was like a kitten. "H…hi Flynn," she said, yawning. "Good morning."

"Sleepy, are you?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.

"You kept me up past my bed time," Rapunzel said, smiling faintly. She was teasing him. She didn't have a bed time. Back in the tower, she could pretty much go to bed whenever she wanted. She usually got up early for the chores so she could have the rest of the day to relax and do her hobbies…

"Oops, my bad," he said, tilting his head to kiss the side of her face wherever he could reach. This was also unusual for him. He didn't normally kiss to show affection…

"It's alright," Rapunzel said, smiling. She moved away from him, going to grab her clothes that were sitting on the end of the bed.

"Ah," he said, touching her arm. "Why don't you hold off on that for a little while?"

"Well, I…" Rapunzel looked at him and understood. "Oh," she said, smirking and laying back down on him.

"Yeah, oh," Flynn said. He rolled over so he was on top of her and started kissing her. "So, it's weird to think that you were a virgin just a couple of days ago."

Rapunzel nodded, laughing a bit and feeling her cheeks turn red. It was weird. She wasn't really expecting this to happen when she agreed to spending the night with Flynn. She didn't know what she had expected. But then she had developed feelings for him and well that was that. Sex was fun, though. She liked it, for the most part. And Flynn definitely liked it so she didn't mind complying with whatever he wanted to do. Like now, for instance. He definitely wanted something.

"For being so new at this, you're really good, though," Flynn said, pulling her legs around his waist.

"Oh, do you think so?"

"Yeah, definitely," Flynn said.

"Do people normally do this in the morning?" Rapunzel asked.

He shrugged and kissed along her collarbone as he slowly pushed into her. "Well I don't see why not."

Rapunzel gasped and dug her nails into his back automatically. "I – okay…"

"Sorry. Were you not ready yet?" he asked, looking at her with mild concern. He wasn't all that concerned with her discomfort, but… Well, maybe he cared more about it than he usually would.

Rapunzel shook her head. She was used to this feeling by now. "I'm fine," she muttered.

"Okay. If you say so," Flynn said, sighing a bit and wondering if she was lying. But what did it matter, really? He had never really cared about his partners too much. He didn't treat them badly or anything, but he tended to not really think of them as people. Rapunzel was different, because he gotten to know her outside of the bedroom.

Rapunzel sighed, trying to relax. She still felt awkward whenever they did this. And without the alcohol to help her she felt even more self-conscious.

It was over within a few minutes, though, and it wasn't so bad. Flynn was lying against her, kissing her neck. Rapunzel smiled, her head filled with thoughts. "Can I…put my clothes on now?" she asked, laughing a bit.

"Of course," Flynn said, getting off of her. "Your work is done."

Rapunzel blushed as she dressed herself, looking back at him. "Last night was fun."

"You bet your ass it was." Flynn leaned back against the headboard, watching her smugly.

Rapunzel pushed a bit of short hair behind her ear as she laughed. "Um. I'm going to go get some breakfast, would you like to join me?" she asked, standing up.

"I…" To be honest, he wasn't very hungry. But he didn't want Rapunzel to have to go alone, so he might as well. "Yeah, sure," he said, pulling on his clothes. He realized he still had Rapunzel's jewelry in the pocket of his pants. That could come in handy someday. He was running out of cash and he knew she was too. But they had enough to last a couple more days. Was he even going to be with her in a couple of days? He didn't like to think about that.

"Come on," Rapunzel said, holding her hand out to him. He took it and she smiled as she headed outside. She was so used to holding his hand now. It made her feel safe. She was very glad that she had him. He was the only real friend she had. Back in the tower, she hadn't known anyone at all, aside from her mother… As if Rapunzel wanted to think about Gothel right now. She had left that tower for a reason, and she wasn't going back no matter what. Being out on her own was much better. Just look at everything she had done! She had met Flynn, and learned how to drink, and how to steal, and… Well, maybe it didn't sound all that good, but it was fun!

She shouldn't be thinking about her past. It wasn't important anymore.

The thing is, she didn't want to think about her future either. It scared her. She had a feeling that the more time she spent with Flynn, the closer she was getting to never seeing him again. He had never promised to stay forever. It could only be so long until he decided to leave her for good.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Well, okay, this took a while. I tend to lose all motivation after writing a couple chapters of a story. But I know there are still some people reading this, so I want to keep continuing it. Most of this chapter was written really quickly, so I apologize for any errors that might be there.**

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><p>It didn't take Flynn long to realize that he hated being in the same place for a long time. Usually, he never stayed in a town for more than a couple of days. He stole things almost everywhere he went, and unless he wanted to risk being found out, he had to leave the area after committing a crime, and fast. He had been in this town for a while now, and considering he had done some petty theft while here, the smart to do would be to leave, go on to the next town, stay there until he pissed off the inhabitants, leave again, and repeat…<p>

He was the kind of guy who needed adventure in his life. He couldn't stand being cooped up in one place. All of those years in the orphanage had been torture for him. He felt so free when he finally broke out of that place, so liberated, like he could finally go do the things that he wanted to do. That's when he had first decided that he should be a thief. His lifestyle had its downfalls, of course, but it was exciting and full of adventure and he rarely got bored with it.

Right now, though…well, his life wasn't boring. But he wasn't sure if he would really call babysitting an eighteen-year-old "fun." There were a few good things about it, sure… Like the fact that she was friendly and attractive and entertaining, but it still wasn't something that he had ever intended to happen.

To say it straight out, he was getting tired with her. All they ever did was eat, walk around, drink, and fuck. It wasn't that he wanted to leave her, exactly…but…he wasn't sure how much longer he wanted to stay.

Flynn began to get more and more antsy as time went on. Rapunzel noticed this, and she tried her best to keep him entertained. She really didn't know what she would do without him. There was no way she could go back home. She didn't even know how to get to her tower from her, and besides, Gothel's reaction to her return would be absolutely terrifying.

Rapunzel had simply run away one day without giving her mother any information as to where she was going. She was fed up with living in that tower and she just wanted to get away. Her mother badly mistreated her because of the power that her old hair had held, so Rapunzel had chopped it all off and fled. At first she hadn't been sure if it was the right decision, but after seeing how great the outside world was, and meeting Flynn, she had absolutely no desire to go back.

"Are you alright?" Rapunzel asked one day. It had been about a week since they had met. She stood smiling at him, that stupid smile that drove him crazy in both a good and bad way at the same time. "I mean, is there anything in particular you want to go do?"

Flynn shrugged, looking around at the alley they were standing at the end of. "Nothing comes to mind," he said. His life was just so _boring _without stealing. Sure, he had stolen a few things since he met her, but not nearly as much as usual. It was stupid, but somehow he cared about what she thought. He didn't want to steal things just for the hell of it – it would make him look like a bad guy.

"Oh, well, if you think of something, don't be afraid to tell me," Rapunzel said, smiling again. She leaned in and gave him a slow, seductive kiss. That was something that she knew always worked. As long as she kept him interested in her physically, there was no way he could leave. Right?

He smirked. "Alright," he said. It was amazing how much she had changed in these few short days. She had gone from being very awkward and shy to kissing him in public without any reserve whatever. He knew he should feel guilty – he was practically making the girl act slutty – but hey, he had never told her that she _needed _to be alluring. She had figured it out on her own.

Besides, it wasn't so bad. The only one she was trying to seduce was him. Somehow, Flynn knew this was how things would end up if he ever got in a relationship. That after a little while he would lose interest and the only thing keeping them together would be the sex. That's how it usually worked, right? He sighed as she grabbed his hand and led him to a random shop.

That's when something changed. Because there, on the shop door, was a Wanted Poster…for Flynn Rider. Flynn stopped walking and stared the poster, having not seen one of these in a while, especially not in this town. It looked just like the others – reading "wanted dead or alive" and labeling him as a thief. At least for this one they had gotten a decent artist.

Rapunzel stopped dead when she realized what he was staring at. She knew Flynn was a thief, but it was something she didn't like to think about. He was just too nice to be a thief. Or had she just been imagining all of that? Her heart sank as she realized what this meant: that the guards were looking for Flynn again. They were going to take him away from her.

"W-what are we going to do?" Rapunzel asked in a shaky voice. She didn't want to see him leave – she didn't want to see him hurt at all. He didn't deserve to put in prison.

Flynn grabbed the poster off the door and crumbled it up, throwing it on the ground. While he was acting carefree, he was actually very worried. Why were they still looking for him? He hadn't stolen anything major in a while. Just little things here and there. Sure, when he had left Corona, he been in the midst of _planning _a bigger theft, but he hadn't accomplished anything. Looking around the street, he thankfully didn't see any more posters, though he knew that they had to be around here somewhere. "I…think it's time for me to go," he said.

"Go?"

"Yeah. Get out of town," Flynn said rather quickly, running a hand through his hair and breathing heavily. He was more nervous about being caught than one might think. He really didn't want to be put in prison, or worse, hung. His common routine was to just keep running. If it wasn't for Rapunzel, he would have left this town days ago.

"I'm okay with that," Rapunzel said, also nervous. She didn't want to admit that possibility that he meant without her, even though she could tell by the way he was acting that it was true.

"Are you now?" Flynn asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rapunzel nodded quickly.

"Well then, I guess I'll just go back to the room and pack up my stuff…" He knew he was being heartless, but he wasn't a fan of goodbyes. Besides, the guards could show up any day now.

"No! Please. I mean…I'll come with you," Rapunzel said softly.

The hurt in her eyes reminded him of the way she acted after they first met, when she had convinced him to stay for the morning after. Why did he always give in to her? There was just something about her that made it impossible for him to say no. All these days, he had agreed to whatever she had wanted to do. He wasn't always very nice about it, but he at least put up with her, which is more than he did with most people. Well, maybe it was time to stand up to her.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," he said.

"Why…why not?" Didn't he like her at all? She knew she probably annoyed him, but even so, she thought they must have had something special together.

He sighed. What was the best way to put this? "No offense, babe, but you sort of…slow me down. A lot." It would be impossible to continue on with his lifestyle with her slowing him down. "It would really be in my best interest to go without you. Probably in your best interest too!" he added. "I mean, once I'm out of the picture, you can go do whatever you want, meet new people…"

"No, I can't," Rapunzel said quietly. She was a bit more helpless than he realized. She was able to take care of herself, but she didn't know much about people or making friends. She needed his help with that.

In a way, the discovery of this Wanted Poster had given him the perfect excuse to leave her. He had been looking for ways to craftily do so for a long time now, and this was a great opportunity. He still felt bad, though. Once you spend a week with someone, getting to know them better than you've gotten to know anyone in a long time, it's hard to leave… "I'm sure you'll be fine," he said, more to reassure himself than anything.

"No. I'm…I'm coming with you," Rapunzel said defiantly, standing up straighter and looking at him directly, not caring if people on the streets noticed their argument. "I'm sick of you pushing me around. I want to come so I will." She was finally standing up for herself, like she wished she had done sooner with Gothel.

Flynn grabbed her arm and started walking back to the room, annoyed. He wasn't exactly angry with her, but he wasn't happy, either. Why did she make things so difficult? "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't _want _you to come with me?" he asked. "Maybe I've just been sticking around because I felt bad for you? I mean, god, sometimes I'm surprised you haven't figured that out."

Rapunzel broke into tears and stopped walking. She had been trying to be strong, but she just couldn't take it anymore. She knew that he felt that way, but he didn't have to say it and make her feel bad.

Wiping her eyes, she looked down at the ground, not wanting to see him. For some reason, even know, she didn't want him to see her so being so weak.

Flynn looked at her sadly, knowing he went too far. He hadn't been thinking about what he was saying. So much for letting her down gently. He'd fucked it up again.

"I'll be in the room. You can stop by and say goodbye before I leave," Flynn said, walking away. He felt terrible, and when he was the cause of someone else's unhappiness, he didn't like to confront it. He walked quickly, trying to blow off steam. He didn't want things to be this way. A couple times, he glanced back at Rapunzel, but she hadn't moved. It would have been easy enough for him to ditch town right now, while she was busy sulking, but his guilt kept him glued to his promise, and he paced back in forth in their motel room, thinking about all of his mistakes.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter. It means a lot. Here's chapter ten for you! I have a couple ideas about how to end the story, but I'd like to know what you guys think too, so you can let me know in a review if you want. Thank you!**

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><p>Flynn had everything of his packed into his satchel by the time Rapunzel showed up.<p>

Her eyes were red from crying, but she stood up straight away, the door closed behind her as she stared at him.

Oh, so she was giving him the silent treatment. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't want it to be like this, but…I just need to go." On top of it all, he was kind of panicking now that he knew how upset she was making her. That wasn't his intention, and he felt awful. He just wanted to get it done with.

Rapunzel glared at him. "Tell me one thing. Did you ever like me at all, or was this whole week just a lie?"

Flynn paused. How much of the truth should he give her? He sighed. She was such a nice girl. He wasn't going to lie to her any more… "I did like you. Trust me, I did," he said, walking over to her and taking her hands in his. Despite the fact that he often got annoyed with her, every word of it was true. "You're so kind and understanding, even with people like me. You've treated me better than anyone has in a very long time." Suddenly, his hands were all sweaty and his mouth felt dry. "You're not like other girls, Rapunzel. You're so much better than any of them."

Rapunzel just looked at him, her mouth part way open in shock. "You…you said my name."

"I – what?"

"You called me Rapunzel. Not babe or baby or honey. You never do that," he said.

"Oh…" It was true that he had a habit of calling girls by nicknames – usually because in most cases, he could never remember their actual names. "I, uh, guess it just slipped out." He shrugged and dropped her hands, going back over to the chair where his satchel was sitting, ignoring the fact that this might mean something.

"Do you still want to leave?" Rapunzel asked softly. She had been hoping to change his mind; she just wasn't sure how to go about it. Maybe just talking to him would help.

Flynn didn't face her, but looked at the floor, nodding a bit. He didn't have another choice. Flynn Rider just didn't stay with one girl. That's not how it worked. His hesitation was scaring him. Why couldn't he look at her?

"But if you really feel like I'm different…I think you should let me come along," Rapunzel said, sighing and looking down, feeling a bit embarrassed for bringing it up again when he had already told her explicitly that he didn't want her there.

"Don't you see?" Flynn asked, glancing at her. "That's exactly why I can't. You like me too much – I like _you _too much. At first I thought it was fine. But just look at us now. I can't stay with you. Whether I want to or not, I'm going to end up breaking your heart – that's what always happens. I can't be Flynn Rider _and _be committed to you. I'm sorry, but I can't…" He sighed, feeling strange now that he had gotten his feelings out in the open.

"But if you leave, you'll never see me again."

Flynn shifted uncomfortably. That had occurred to him earlier, but he tried not to think about it, considering he was already in enough pain. "I'm sure I could find you somehow…"

"Really? Because if you really travel around as much as you say you do, I'm not sure I could find you…"

Flynn sighed. She was making this so, so difficult. Now, no matter what he did, one of them was going to get hurt. It would be best to leave now, as soon as possible, even though the thought of leaving her for good was killing him. He had gotten so used to her presence. It would be strange being on his own again, he might be even be lonely… He might never find someone like her again…

When did he get so sappy?

Throwing his satchel on his shoulder, he rummaged through it, pulling out the necklaces, bracelets, and various other jewels that he had taken from her earlier in the week. "Here, these belong to you," he said, dumping them into her hand.

"You…you had these? I thought they were in the drawer…" she said, glancing at the dresser. She looked more confused than upset.

"Yeah. I took them because I thought I could sell them for some cash. But they're yours. So keep it."

Rapunzel looked down at her hand for a moment before grabbing Flynn's hand and giving the jewelry back to him. "No," she said. "I want you to have it."

"Why?" Flynn asked. He didn't deserve to keep anything of hers.

"Because…" Rapunzel said, sighing. "You'll need as much money as you can get. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Please take it."

Flynn nodded, surprised by her charity, and very thankful. "Sure," he said, stuffing it back into his satchel.

Rapunzel wiped her eyes. She didn't want to say goodbye to him. "I'll miss you," she said.

"I'm gonna miss you too." He would miss having someone to talk to, someone to wake up next to, and just someone who listened to him.

Without warning, Rapunzel cupped his face in her hands and kissed him hard. He was thrown off guard, but kissed her back with just as much passion. "I guess I could stick around another thirty minutes or so," he muttered. With that, Rapunzel pushed him backwards onto the bed, taking off his satchel and unbuttoning his vest. She wanted to show him exactly how much he meant to her, especially if she wasn't going to see him again. She kissed every part of him she could, as soon as his skin was exposed.

And when she kissed him, it was different than usual. It wasn't out of lust, or because she was supposed to do it. There were real emotions the way she was kissing him, touching him. She gasped as she lowered herself onto him, whispering his name over and over and she leaned down to kiss him sweetly. He couldn't help but say her name back – her actual name. Rapunzel…

That was the first time they ever actually made love. All the other times, Flynn was only concerned about getting off, but this time, he felt a strong emotional connection with her. The experience was so unlike anything he'd ever experienced. And it was a million times better.

They climaxed together, and Flynn felt more satisfied than he ever had before, knowing that their bodies had worked together to create something magical. "Rapunzel," he muttered as she collapsed on top of him. What was he supposed to say? People usually said "I love you" after sex, right? He couldn't bring himself to say that, so instead he just held her close, kissing her forehead.

He knew he still had to leave. Probably sometime today. But doing so was going to break his own heart, not only hers. Maybe he could learn to be committed to her. Then she could come, right? But there was still the problem of his life being way too dangerous for her.

"Rapunzel," he said, after a few minutes. She looked up at him. "I'm worried about what's gonna happen to you…"

"I'm worried about you too…" Rapunzel said.

"I'm used to living without a place to stay. I'll be perfectly fine. But you…I'm not sure what's going to happen to you…"

Rapunzel frowned. She wasn't sure either. How on Earth was she going to do things on her own? She had met Flynn not long after leaving her tower. She would be fine for a while, but she knew things would be harder without someone to help her.

"Have you ever been to Corona?" Flynn asked. He realized that he didn't know where she was from, but he got the impression that she had grown up far away from people.

Rapunzel shook her head. "No. I've been meaning to go there." She knew that was where the main city was. It was also where the lanterns that she saw from her window were set off from.

Flynn nodded. "I'm gonna take you there," he said.

"What?"

"I'm going to take you there. Find you a place to stay. You can find a job, rent a space. Whatever you need to. I have to make sure you're taken care of." He just wouldn't feel right leaving without knowing whether or not she would be okay. "I'll be able to avoid the guards for a day or two."

"Are you sure?" Rapunzel asked.

"I'm positive. We'll leave tonight. It's not far from here."

Rapunzel smiled and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Flynn." She was so happy right now, despite what had happened earlier today. She was just glad that she would get to spend a little more time with him.

He wanted to tell her not to call him that, because it wasn't his real name, and suddenly it felt wrong to hear it come out of her mouth. But telling her his real name was getting way too attached. "You're welcome," he said simply, and pulled her into a hug, inhaling her sweet scent.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hmm. I'm not so happy with this. I tried writing it a few different ways and nothing worked. There's probably going to be about two more chapters. Let me know if you have thoughts on how you'd like it to end. Thanks.**

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><p>Rapunzel was overwhelmed by Corona. She had never seen anything so wonderful! It was the biggest town she had been in so far, and definitely the most beautiful. Even though it was nighttime when they arrived, she could still appreciate the beauty, caught up in everything. One of the positives of getting there very early in the morning was that there was no one around. Flynn didn't have to worry about getting caught.<p>

As they dismounted their stolen horse, Flynn cautiously looked the village, looking for signs of somewhere they could go. "We need to find you a place to stay," he said. "Somewhere that will protect you, where no one will hurt you and you can't get into trouble. If you were under eighteen, maybe the orphanage would take you in…" He thought back to his life at the orphanage. Not exactly the most charming place, but they at least tried to give the kids there a good life.

Where else was there, though? She could stay at a hotel, but she would have to continue to pay, and they really didn't have any money left. If only she could get a job. "What are you good at?" he asked.

"Well…" Rapunzel said, "I can cook, clean, sew…I'm good at pretty much any kind of housework."

Perfect. "Okay, Rapunzel. Here's what I want you to do. I'll find you a place to stay for tonight. I'll make sure you're settled in. Then, I want you to find a job. Anything you think you can do. Once you start making some money, you can rent a house, or at least find a more permanent place to live. Does that sound good?"

Rapunzel was a bit nervous, but it sounded reasonable. "Okay," she said.

Well, Flynn thought, until she could find a job…hotel it was.

A while later, they stood in her new hotel room. It was a nice enough place, but Rapunzel was sad. She didn't want him to go. She stood looking at the ground, her hands playing absentmindedly with her dress. She hadn't slept at all, but she wasn't tired.

"You'll start looking for a job tomorrow, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I will," Rapunzel said, nodding. It shouldn't be so hard to do, right?

"And, who knows, maybe I'll come visit you sometime," Flynn said, shrugging. He hated the thought of leaving her entirely. It would be painful to come back, but he might have to. Suddenly, his thoughts were jumping all over the place. What if he came to visit her and she had found someone else? What if he never got the chance to come back at all? He hadn't stolen anything really big lately…he didn't _think _he would be hanged for anything…but you never know. Swallowing, he glanced at the floor, not wanting to focus on that anymore.

"I hope you do," Rapunzel said, shifting awkwardly. She couldn't imagine being with anyone but him. "Do you really have to go?"

"I think I should," Flynn said, sighing. "At least for a while. I mean, maybe not for forever, but they're looking for me, and…I don't want to put you or myself in danger." It was funny. He always thought that when he left her, it would be to get rid of her. But now, he didn't want that at all.

"That's understandable." Rapunzel leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Take care of yourself, alright?" she asked. She giggled. "And thanks for being so nice to me."

"You're welcome," Flynn muttered, not in a very good mood. He wasn't good with goodbyes. He always avoided them. That's why he usually abandoned the women he slept with _before _the next morning. This time, he guessed things didn't turn out quite like normal.

"I'll miss you," Rapunzel said, smiling a bit.

"I'll miss you too," Flynn said. He kicked at the ground and sighed. "Well, bye. I'll see you later," he said. That made it hurt it a little less. He glanced at her one more time before walking out the door and heading back to the street.

That was it, then. No long, romantic kiss. No declaration of love. They had said most of their goodbyes before coming to Corona anyway. That's what all that angsty goodbye sex was for. Flynn ran his hand through his hair, sighing. He just had to keep walking. Don't think about her.

But it wasn't working. Was she going to be okay without him? What if something bad happened to her? He couldn't stand it.

God, if only he had never met her. This was all her fault. He had never gotten attached to a girl before. Why did she have to go and ruin everything for him? _You're such a fuck-up, Rider_, he thought bitterly. If he had left her earlier, neither of them would be hurting now. But he was too concerned with nurturing his own loneliness to think of that.

He was making too big of a deal out of this. It wasn't like he was in love with her. It wasn't like she was in love with him, either. They didn't even know anything about each other! She didn't even know his name. They would be fine, parting ways as unlikely friends. Still, he couldn't get over the idea that maybe he was making the wrong decision in leaving her.

Consumed with regret and denial, Flynn headed automatically into a bar. He knew he shouldn't, but he needed something, anything, to take his mind off of this. He sat down at the bar, asking for whatever they had that was strong. Drinking his troubles away. Just like old times.

Many drinks later, a woman with way too much make-up and dressed very promiscuously sauntered over to him. "Hey, honey," she said, leaning against the corner and smirking at her. "What's your name?"

"Flynn Rider," he muttered, swirling his drink around. There wasn't much left. Dammit.

The girl looked more turned on by his reveal of his identity than anything else. "Are you looking for some fun?"

Flynn smirked and looked at her. Yes, this was _definitely _a lot like old times. "Depends. How much is it gonna cost me?"

"For you…no charge," she whispered, leaning close to him, leaving her breath hot against his skin. It was supposed to be alluring, but at the moment, he could care less about her seduction attempts. She was available, and that was good enough for him.

He grinned at her. He was drunk and horny, and Rapunzel clearly wasn't an option anymore. This could, in fact, help him get over Rapunzel. "Let's go then," he said, tilting his head towards the door.

The woman – he had never gotten her name, so he came up with the nickname Brown Eyes (because her eyes were so very brown and boring, the opposite of Rapunzel's) – took his hand and led him down the street to what he assumed was her house. He was nearly staggering, finding it hard to walk in a straight line, but he somehow still managed to be charming.

They started making out as soon as they got inside. Flynn always prided himself on his kissing technique, and Brown Eyes obviously did too. It was a nice change, after sleeping with Rapunzel for a week – who was a great kisser, but far too reserved.

Wait. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about her.

Thankfully, he was drunk enough that his thoughts could never stay on one topic for too long. As he removed her clothes, a bit of him felt guilty, almost like he was cheating. But he wasn't. He wasn't committed to anyone. His frustration caused him to be very fast and aggressive with this new girl, but he didn't think she minded. Well, not like it mattered what she wanted. He was Flynn Rider and he was in this for himself.

After about half an hour, Flynn passed out on her bed, exhausted. Once or twice he woke up during the night, for only a few minutes. He instinctively reached out for Rapunzel, wanting someone to cuddle, before he remembered that the figure lying next to him in bed wasn't her. Annoyed, he pulled the covers close to him and fell back asleep, hoping he would never have to wake up again.


	12. Chapter 12

When Flynn woke up, he didn't feel better at all. He felt absolutely terrible, even worse than he felt yesterday when he was saying goodbye to Rapunzel. He sat up in bed, seeing that Brown Eyes was already on the other side of the room, getting dressed. How drunk was he last night? He really didn't remember anything. It was pretty obvious what happened though. He sighed and held his head in his hands.

He felt like such a cheater. He and Rapunzel weren't together, but that didn't stop him from feeling like they were. He still felt obligated to her, anyhow. And what he had done, well…there was really no excuse for it.

He pushed these thoughts away and got dressed quickly. He needed to get out of Corona immediately. It was dangerous being here, and the longer he stayed the higher the risk of running into Rapunzel was. That was the last thing he wanted.

He buttoned his vest and threw the strap of his satchel on his shoulder, glancing at the girl in the room. "Well, that was great fun. But I think I better be going," he said, heading towards the door.

The woman smirked and shook her head. "Oh, you really thought I would let go this easily?" she asked, laughing. Flynn raised an eyebrow. What the fuck was wrong with this girl? He could do whatever he wanted.

Before he knew it, she had grabbed his hands put him into a handcuff. It had all happened so quickly that he barely had time to process what was happening. This bitch! What was wrong with her? Flynn struggled as much as he could, but she had a death grip on his wrists. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" he growled. He did not like being taken advantage of.

"I want my reward," she said, shrugging a bit.

"You – what?" That was what this was about? That was why she didn't mind that he was a thief. How had he been so stupid? His ego had actually made him think that she must have been turned on by bad boys, but apparently that wasn't what she had been thinking about.

"I've seen your wanted posters," Brown Eyes explained, rolling her eyes. "I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that. I just had to get you back to my place so I could get you arrested in the morning when you wouldn't expect it."

He had to admire the way she thought – but still, she was a bitch. "Wouldn't it have been easier to handcuff me when I was drunk?" he asked, smirking. He was pissed off, but that didn't mean he couldn't kid around. "Oh, wait, you'll probably add in some story about how I raped or something, won't you?"

She shrugged, smirking devilishly. "We'll see how it goes."

This girl was the exact opposite of Rapunzel, Flynn thought. Suddenly he missed her and all of her innocence. She would never be so conniving and vindictive. She would never be like him…

He couldn't be too mad. After all, Brown Eyes wasn't too different from himself.

He was so ashamed that he didn't even try to escape.

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><p>Rapunzel was in a terrible mood. She didn't like being on her own in a strange place. She missed Flynn. He always knew what to do. Sometimes he was rude, but at least he was company. Now she was all alone again…<p>

Sighing, she got up and decided to explore Corona some. She would have to get used to this place since she was going to live here. Everything was so new and interesting to her, but she found it hard to be too excited. She kept thinking about what Flynn would say if he were here. He would probably suggest they go steal some lunch.

She chuckled to herself, but soon frowned when she realized that she needed to stop thinking of him. He wasn't coming back. At least…not for a long time. Thinking about him would only hurt her more.

As she roamed the streets, she tried to stay somewhat cheerful, smiling at the people that she passed. Everyone here looked very nice. She couldn't help but notice, however, that some of them were giving her weird looks. They would seem interested in her, walking a little bit slower as they passed her. She didn't understand. Was she that unusual? She didn't see why she should stand out.

There was a strange lack of guards around, she noticed. After spending a week with Flynn, she had grown accustomed to looking out for them. But there were none around right now, which was weird, considering Flynn had told her this was the center of the Kingdom and the main place where they needed to be careful.

Then she saw where the guards were. They were a huge crowd of them, and subsequently a crowd of villagers as well. Everyone was trying to see what was going on, Rapunzel included. She soon deduced that they were restraining someone, taking him towards the prison, and that's when her heart dropped.

In Flynn's voice, there was a cry of "Rapunzel!"

Rapunzel instinctively ran towards him. She couldn't believe he had been caught. She thought he had already left town. But there he was – she could see glimpses of him every once in a while. Oh god, this was terrible. What were they going to do to him? "Flynn!" she screamed, running up towards the guards, who shoved her away as they took Flynn into the prison and closed the door behind them. They were gone now.

The crowd began to disperse. There were many people saying things like "it's about time they caught that Rider." Frankly, it was making Rapunzel sick. They didn't even know him. They didn't know how good of a person he really was.

At least she knew where he was.

She looked at the prison door sadly, determined to see him again as soon as possible.

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><p>Flynn had been in his cell for a few hours now, worried out of his mind. He really didn't know what was going to happen. He found it hard to believe they would hang him – after all, he didn't done anything <em>too <em>bad. He was considering escaping, but he hadn't thought of any plans yet. Maybe if he had some time…

Who was he kidding? Time was _not _of the essence right now. At most, they would keep him locked up for a few days before his trial. He just hoped he would be let off the hook. The thought of being hanged was absolutely terrifying to him. While he was thinking about this, his thoughts kept leading back to Rapunzel. She would surely hear of whatever happened, and she would be heartbroken by it. Now, he really wished he had said goodbye properly. Even more than that, he wished he was still with her now.

"Rider," one of the guards said harshly. Flynn looked up, confused. "It, um, appears you have a visitor." The guard nodded and uncomfortably moved a good distance way, out of ear shot, but still where he could see, in case the prisoner tried anything.

A visitor? Flynn didn't think it was too common for prisoners to have visitors. He didn't know what to think at first.

Then Rapunzel stepped out, looking very out of place in the bleak, dingy prison. Her eyes were red from crying and she looked into Flynn's cell sadly. He should have known. "Rapunzel!" he said, standing up and walking to the bars. He was so glad to see her. He could say goodbye, apologize, explain…

"Flynn," she said, smiling despondently. "You're okay! I was so scared, when I saw them taking you away…"

He frowned, nodding. "I know. But yeah, I'm okay." _For now_, he thought.

"How did they catch you?" she asked. "I thought you were…leaving town? Right after you left me?" She raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing him.

"I, um…" This was awkward. He hadn't intended her to find out about this part. He sighed. "I got drunk. And this girl I met, she…turned me in to the guards," he mumbled.

Rapunzel's eyes flashed angrily. He didn't know if she was mad at him or mad at the girl that turned him in. "Just some girl?" she asked. "What…what happened with her?" Her voice was soft, but he knew he should tread carefully.

"Well, like I said, I was wasted, so I don't exactly…remember."

"Did you sleep with her?" Rapunzel asked, looking down.

Flynn knew this would break her heart, but he couldn't bring himself to lie to her. "Yeah. Yeah, I did," he admitted, biting his lip, glancing at her.

Rapunzel sighed. She knew she shouldn't have been surprised, especially since he had left her, but still…it hurt. A lot. More than she could have imagined. "I see," she said simply.

"It was nothing, though!" Flynn said. "She was slutty, and horrible, and evil! I didn't actually _like _her."

"Well, you don't normally like the girls you sleep with, right?" Rapunzel said. She had gotten that impression, from the way he talked about his past lovers. "I guess you didn't like me either," she muttered, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

"Hey, don't say that," Flynn said. "Of course I liked you! You're amazing. I promise I never wanted to leave you. I just got scared." He reached his hand through the bars to touch her cheek, trying to comfort her. But she jumped back, out of his reach.

"_Don't _touch me, Flynn," she snapped. He had never seen her angry. For someone so small, she could be quite intimidating. "I'm sick of you! I'm sick of the way you treat me and the way you always apologize. You're so used to getting all the girls, aren't you? Well it might have occurred to you that I'm not like anyone else!" She turned from him, her heart beating fast as sobs started to shake throughout her body.

"Rapunzel, we weren't even together! It's not cheating!" he said. He didn't know why she was getting so hung up over this. Weren't there more pressing issues at hand? Like getting him out of prison?

"I…I know," Rapunzel said, taking a deep breath. She was trying to calm down. She was too worried about to him to stay angry forever. Trying to ignore the pangs in her chest, she stood up straighter and looked at him. "Well, hopefully I'll see you again, then?"

"Yeah, hopefully," he agreed quietly, nodding a bit. It all depended on what the King and Queen decided to do with him.

"And, if I don't see you again…" Rapunzel said – it was hard for her to even think about the possibility, but she couldn't ignore the fact that it could happen – "I just want to know that…I love you." Rapunzel looked him in the eyes, seeing the shock grow in his beautiful brown orbs. He didn't know what to think. She kept eye contact a moment longer, finding comfort in this moment, and then, as fear and embarrassment quickly washed over her, she turned and rushed down the hallway. "That will be all, I think," she said to the guard, who led her to the prison exit.

She started crying as soon as she knew Flynn couldn't see her anymore. She was so stupid for admitting that. He probably knew anyway, but still. And now she would never even know if he felt the same. She had run away before giving him a chance to say anything in return.

She emerged outside, seeing that it was dark and cloudy outside. Not surprising. It fit her mood, at least. She just wanted to break down and cry – cry for her lost love and her heartbreak, and all the chances she would never have.

She stood there for a while, trying to calm herself. Her overload of emotions was making her feel numb. What if she never saw Flynn again? She was so out of it that she jumped when a guard put his hand on her shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss," he said, looking sincerely sorry for bothering her when she was so distraught, "but the Queen would like to see you."

"W-what?" Rapunzel asked, looking around. What on Earth would the Queen want with her?

"She wants to see the girl that requested to see Flynn Rider."

"Oh, um, well then, I suppose I can talk to her," Rapunzel said, wiping her eyes. She must have looked pathetic. She leaned over a bit to look around the guard, seeing the Queen standing behind him. She was a beautiful lady, dressed in a fancy dress. Rapunzel recognized her from a mural she had seen in the village. Rapunzel stepped forward slowly, getting a better look at the Queen.

It was like looking in a mirror.

Rapunzel didn't understand. Why did she look so much like her? Pure coincidence? She guessed it had to have been.

The Queen smiled warmly at her, putting a hand on her shoulder as they began walking to the castle. "What's your name, dear?" she asked.

"R-Rapunzel," she stuttered.

"Well, Rapunzel. If you wouldn't mind coming inside with me for a while, there are some questions I'd like to ask you."

Rapunzel nodded, feeling more scared than ever. Too much had happened today. Hopefully, the Queen would provide her with some answers.

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><p><strong>AN: Wow. So, that was more Rapunzel-centric than my chapters usually are. I tend to focus on Flynn more, for some reason, and I'll probably continue that way. They are a lot of things I could go into when it comes to Rapunzel and what's happening to her right now, but I feel like it would detach from the main plot of the story. Anyway. There will be one more chapter, or possibly two short ones. I don't know yet. Thank you so much for reviewing. Tell me what you think!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Just so you know, this **_**is **_**the last chapter. I think it's a good place for me to end. Thank you and I hope you enjoy.**

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><p>He should have said "I love you" back. That was all he could think about all night. There were so many things he could be worrying about – the most pertinent one being the possibility of his death – but no. Instead, he spent all night thinking about Rapunzel.<p>

He sat in the corner of his cell, listening to the wind outside. It had been so long since he'd spent a night in prison, and he hated it. It was the middle of the night and extremely quiet. Most of the prisoners were probably asleep. But Flynn? He couldn't even imagine sleeping right now. He was more awake than he had ever been.

He couldn't stand the thought that that might have been – likely _would _be – his last meeting with Rapunzel. It drove him crazy. He would die while she was still angry at him, would die while she didn't believe he loved her back.

This wasn't what he wanted. He could only hope that she would come back before…well, before it was too late. He needed to tell her that he felt the same way.

It had taken a lot of thinking, but he was sure that he did now. He loved her. There was no other explanation for it. Why else would he have been so upset about having to leave her? A woman had never caused him this much pain before. She was first person he had ever been emotionally attached to, and that had to mean something. He just wished he would have been able to realize it sooner. Then maybe…maybe they could have been happy together. Maybe he could have been in a committed relationship with her – a relationship where he actually got something out of it, where he was actually at ease. It was too late now. His fear had fucked up all of his chances.

It was more than that, though, and he kept trying to remind himself of it, so that he didn't feel too bad. Even if he _had _told Rapunzel his feelings earlier, there was still a very big problem, one that he couldn't avoid, and that was his reputation. He was a thief. It was evitable that he would be put in jail someday, and then what? Rapunzel would have had no choice but to find someone else anyway.

There was no way he could win.

Maybe it was better this way, he thought. Now he would never know what being with her – really being with her – would be like. Considering how unhappy and doomed he was, death didn't seem like that bad of an option.

Flynn sighed, sifting a little to lie down on the floor. The cool concrete felt nice against his skin, and he realized he had been sweating in his fear. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. He didn't know for sure yet what would happen. Maybe things would be alright.

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><p>Rapunzel had received the biggest shock of her life that evening. As she was sent to one of the guest rooms to sleep for the night, she walked slowly, in a daze, unable to appreciate all the beautiful details of the palace. The bed was nicer than anything she had ever slept in. She found herself thinking about the softness of the pillow instead of reflecting over what had just happened. She was asleep before she knew it.<p>

The next day, Rapunzel got up early, and a servant escorted her to breakfast with her new parents. Rapunzel was far too nervous to eat. She couldn't get used to the idea of them being her parents, but she couldn't deny that it was so – she and the Queen looked astonishingly similar, and Rapunzel had the same birthday as their lost daughter.

"We know it will take some time to adjust to this," the King said consolingly. "We're thinking of announcing your return later this week. We could throw a party in your honor."

Rapunzel nodded and looked down at her plate, which she hadn't touched. "That sounds nice," she admitted. She would like to get to know the people of her kingdom. She had so many emotions; she couldn't believe she hadn't exploded. She was excited, happy, and scared all at the same time. It was too much to take. She and her parents had discussed everything yesterday – Rapunzel told them about the tower, how she escaped, and how she finally made it to Corona. She hadn't mentioned Flynn at all. There were too many other things to talk about, and she was scared her parents would judge her if they knew about her relationship with him.

Now, her thoughts couldn't help but drift back to him. Was he okay? She was worried about him. Very worried. She didn't know what his fate was. She realized that the King and Queen were the only people who might possibly be able to help out. From what Rapunzel had gathered so far, they were very different from Gothel, and they weren't the type of people to constantly berate her. So Rapunzel pushed past her fear and asked them about it. "You…you know the thief Flynn Rider?" she asked.

The King and Queen nodded. "Wasn't that who you were visiting yesterday?" the Queen asked, a gentle, reassuring smile on her face.

"Yes," Rapunzel said. She took a deep breath, folding her hands in her lap. "He's a friend of mine. I'm not a thief, I swear! I didn't meet him through that. But anyway, he's a really close friend – the only friend I have, really – and I know he's got a bad reputation, but…I think he's changed."

She could see that her parents were skeptical. She continued, wanting only to convince them that he wasn't a bad guy. "Please. He's really nice. He's nicer than he seems, he just made some decisions before. He's really helped me a lot since I got out of the tower, and I honestly don't know what I'd do without him." Her eyes watered as she thought about the possibility of him being hanged. Even now that she had a place to live, and what looked like a very good future, she couldn't imagine being happy without him here. If he died, she couldn't imagine ever getting over it. "I…I know just because he's friends with the Princess doesn't mean you can ignore what he's done, but if you could possibly just consider going easy on him…" She wiped her eyes and looked down.

Her parents obviously saw how emotional she was getting, and they looked at each other before back at their daughter. "Well," the King said, "I suppose he hasn't committed any big crimes in a while. Mainly just petty theft."

"So…you won't hang him?"

The King sighed. "No, we won't hang him."

Rapunzel breathed a sigh of relief, but her father wasn't done talking. "This doesn't mean he's completely cleared. We'll still need to keep him in jail a bit longer, to teach him a lesson."

Rapunzel couldn't care less about that. As long as he lived, that was the only thing she wanted. Grinning, she hopped up from her chair and rushed to give each of her parents a huge hug.

"However," the King said, "I think it would be very inappropriate for you to visit him while he's there. This is supposed to be a punishment, after all."

Rapunzel nodded. She would be fine going for a while without seeing Flynn, as long as she knew she would get to see him eventually. "Alright," she said. "Thank you so, so much." She smiled gently at him before looking down, completely overjoyed.

* * *

><p>During his time in prison, Flynn was a bit out of the loop. Through the guards, and sometimes the other prisoners, he was able to get some information about what was going on in the Kingdom. It didn't take him long to learn that the Lost Princess had been found. As soon as he heard one of the guards say the name Rapunzel, he demanded an explanation to what was happening, and thankfully, they had given him one.<p>

He couldn't believe it. Rapunzel, a princess? All that time he was with her, and he never knew. Well, he guessed she hadn't known either. He couldn't help but chuckle a little. He knew that girl was special.

And, she had saved him. He counted down the days until he would be able to see her. He hoped that she wouldn't be angry with him. When they finally met again, he wanted everything to be perfect. But he couldn't help but be anxious.

Was he cut out to date a princess? Had she changed a lot since finding out she was a princess? It would be no fun being with someone who followed the rules all the time. He guessed he'd just have to wait and see. All he knew was that he couldn't wait. The anticipation of seeing her was all that kept him from going crazy.

Finally, after a whole month, he was officially let out. He was informed that the Princess would like to see him, so the first thing that happened was that he was escorted to the castle.

He was given a guest room, where he could bathe, change into fresh clothes, and make himself presentable. He smirked as he looked at himself in the mirror. He was still just as handsome as ever, dressed in a pair of dress pants and button-up shirt that he had found in the closet. This was it, then. He knew exactly what he was going to say. He had planned it out a million times in his head. He would make a lavish apology, exclaiming his love with her, and everything would be perfect.

As one of the guards led him through the hall, he wondered where he was going to meet her. He _should _have been focused on the ornate decorations that lined the hallways, and how he could totally steal them, but theft was the last thing on his mind, and he doubted whether he would ever be interested in it again.

When they stopped in front of some doors, Flynn asked, "Is Rapunzel in there?"

"She will be here momentarily," the guard replied. "We will be right outside the door, so don't try again clever."

What was that supposed to mean? Flynn wondered as he stepped inside, into a large parlor. He was, once again, taken away by the beauty of the place. He wandered around a bit as he waited, his hand grazing over the tops of chairs and tabletops – all so different from what he had seen in prison, or even in his whole life.

None of this mattered anymore when the door opened again and Rapunzel stepped in.

She was dressed in a very pretty light pink dress – perfectly suited for a princess. He could tell right away that she was wearing make-up, too, a sign that the people here had changed her. Still, she looked ravishing. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Despite all his preparations, Flynn's heart was beating out of his chest and he suddenly had no idea what to say.

She grinned when she saw him, a grin of pure happiness. So she wasn't angry, that was good. He was smiling like an idiot too. They were both too scared to embrace each other after being apart for so long.

"Rapunzel, I…or should I call you Your Majesty now?" he asked, stopping in the middle of his sentence. He couldn't resist joking around with her.

"Rapunzel is more than fine," she replied, laughing a little.

"Well, Rapunzel, it is wonderful to see you. I can't thank you enough for what you did. For saving me. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be right now, so thank you. Really," he said. He alternated between looking at the floor and glancing up at her. He was sure he sounded rehearsed.

Rapunzel gave a little shrug, like it was no big deal. "I couldn't let you die," she said simply.

"How's the princess life treating you?" he asked. He blurted it out before he could stop himself. It was just on his mind – seeing her striking appearance and meeting her in this setting.

She hesitated a bit. "It's nice," she said. "It's really nice, and…unbelievable. Weird, really. I'm not even the least bit used to it. Everything is so interesting, but…" She bit her lip. "I've been a little uneasy this whole time. I kept thinking about this day, wondering what would happen, wanting to see you again…"

Well, they were on the same page there. He was glad of that. "I missed you," he said, taking a step towards her.

Rapunzel was rubbing her arms, looking down at the pattern in the carpet. "Yes, I missed you too. It's hard not having any friends here to help, and, well – "

She was beginning to stutter. Flynn pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her, breathing a sigh of relief. He had waited so long to be able to hold her again. She clutched to him, her small frame nestling against him as she breathed in his scent. They stayed like that for a good, long moment, before Rapunzel began to sob slightly and pulled away.

"Sorry for getting so emotional – " she began, her cheeks flushed, wiping away a tear at the corner of her eye.

"No, no, we've been through a lot. _You_, especially. I can't even imagine how hard things have been for you," he said. He was feeling pretty damn emotional as well, he was just better at hiding it.

"Yeah, I guess."

"And – Rapunzel – I want to apologize," he said, taking her hand. "For – cheating on you." He still didn't think it was cheating, but she had more than a right to be upset about it. "I was just angry and confused. You're the only one I thought about that whole time I was locked up. In fact, I think I'm in love with you."

"Do you mean that?" Rapunzel asked, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't think falling in love was really your 'thing.'"

"It's not," Flynn said quickly. "I mean, it wasn't. It _isn't._ But I've given it a lot of thought, and I really think I am. I'm sure of it now. I don't want to live without you." He swallowed, looking at her hopefully. For once in his life, he was scared. He wasn't sure if she was going to accept him or not – he probably wouldn't if he was in her situation.

Rapunzel seemed to glow with elation. "I'm not sure if the Princess is supposed to date a thief," she said teasingly.

"We could keep it a secret."

"No we couldn't."

"No, we couldn't," he agreed, smirking before bringing her into a kiss. It was short and sweet, but there was more love in that one kiss than Flynn knew was possible.

Rapunzel giggled as she pulled away, resting her head on his shoulder. "I don't think my parents will mind me dating you. They just want me to happy, after all. As long as you clean up your act…"

"I will. I promise. I don't want to thieve again." It was true. All he wanted was Rapunzel. That was more than enough for him.

"And…" Rapunzel said, sighing – she looked a little hesitant again. "You're not going to hurt me?"

"No, no, of course not," Flynn said. He knew he could do this. He was capable of being in a committed relationship. It wouldn't be so hard, considering he was in love with her.

"Alright then!" Rapunzel said brightly. "It's a deal then." She held out her hand, which he shook, feeling happier than he had in ages, maybe in his whole life.

He smiled as they hugged again. Everything just felt right when they together. "Rapunzel?" he said. "Now we're…together, I think I should tell you my real name." He paused, knowing he needed to be honest with her, but it had been so long since he had told anyone this. "It's Eugene Fitzherbert."

"Eugene," Rapunzel repeated. "Eugene…I like it! That's been your name this whole time and you didn't tell me?"

"Well, I don't really like it," he admitted.

"Well, I do! I think I'll call you that from now on!"

Flynn rolled his eyes – if she called him that, he bet _everyone _would start calling him that. He didn't really mind, though. A new name to suit his new image. Besides, Rapunzel loved him for who he really was – it only made sense that she should call him by his true name.

He couldn't be sure of how long they stood there holding each other. Finally, Rapunzel decided it was time they go have a talk with her parents. This had been what Flynn was dreading. He knew it would take him a long time to be accepted, and he was right. The King and Queen made it very clear that if he made one more mistake, whether it be stealing, or mistreating their daughter, they would not go easy on him. He wouldn't be able to live in the castle, but he would be able to see Rapunzel from time to time. Flynn accepted all of their terms, more than okay with everything.

At the end of that day, it was time for Flynn to go back into Corona. He would have to find a job and a place to stay and prove that he was a satisfactory candidate for the princess. Flynn kissed her hand sweetly as they stood outside the palace. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

"Not going to abandon me during the night?" Rapunzel asked. He sensed a hint of bitterness along with her playful tone.

Flynn shook his head, looking directly into her eyes. A smile played on his lips because the suggestion smiled so silly to him. "Not a chance," he said. He didn't do things like that anymore.

Rapunzel blushed, said goodbye, and Flynn was escorted away from the premises.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Did you like it? I hoped you liked it. This is the first chapter story I've completed in ages, so it's kind of a weird feeling for me. I'm pretty proud of myself, though. I just want to thank everyone who has been reading this. I love you so much and I really hoped you enjoyed everything. I want to let you know that I will be writing more Tangled stories, because I just love writing about this movie, so if you're interested, just keep a lookout. Thank you very much!**


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